Adventuring By Oneself
by ShadowShinigami13
Summary: Yet another story about the Bishi-world. Kind of sad, eh? Still...This one is different since there is no planned plot for it. Hopefully Eliora's story will lead to something very interesting indeed!
1. Chapter 1

Shini: Hellloooooooo! Just wanted to say that this is in no way connected to my last Bishi-world story which was suxxors! This is all-new. I have no idea where it's gonna go! Wish me luck!

Disclaimer: The idea of the Bishi-world came from Songwind's story Bishoujo & Bishonen, so it is not mine. The only characters that are mine in this chapter are Liz & Eliora.

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Chapter 1

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She was moving; that much she was well aware of. Warm arms were curved under her and she felt rather weightless because of them. Eliora didn't particularly want to open her eyes and let it be known she was awake. As much as that might be a good idea. Besides, the arms belonged to her father. He was probably carrying her to bed after…after…

Wait a minute, the last thing she remembered was checking her e-mail. A quick-minute thing before she had to be off to work. On top of that, she could feel the sun's warmth on her face. It had been dark; she'd had a late night shift.

With a jerk, she opened her eyes only to find an unfamiliar pair of dark goggles 'looking' back at her. Eliora cried out and shoved away from the goggles, legs flailing wildly. Caught by surprise, the young man dropped her. When she hit the ground, the teen scrambled away from the boy as familiarity dinged into place.

"R-Riddick?" The shock of hearing her own voice speak the name of a character that only existed in either book or movie format caused her to freeze.

For his part, Riddick ignored her and turned instead to stare questioningly at a young woman who had crouched next to the frozen teen. "Hey, calm down. That's right, breathe," she encouraged as Eliora complied. "Your eyes are not playing tricks and you're not hallucinating. I'm Liz and I'll be your guide until we get to the nearest town." She paused to flash a grin at Riddick. "This is so exciting. My first newbie!"

Eliora stared at Liz for a long moment and then pushed herself to her feet, and brushed off her pants. "This is officially the weirdest dream I have ever had."

Without warning, Liz pinched her. When the younger girl turned an outraged glare on her, she shrugged apologetically. "You don't feel pain in dreams, right? And that probably hurt, I've had practice. Besides, you clicked on the e-mail."

The teen's eyes widened. "Are you referring to-"

"The e-mail with the link to the strange site about Bishies. Where you clicked on the 'Make me a trainer' link. Now you really will be a trainer." Liz grinned as the newbie paled. "Do you remember now?"

Eliora nodded, eyes round with horror. "What about..I mean, I was just…Work," she finished lamely.

"Don't worry…Here, let me explain…" Liz settled down on the ground in front of Eliora and launched into a large, in-depth explanation of everything she knew. Everything was included, from the whole idea of not existing in the real world to not catching Chibis, and also explaining the stages of Bishies. At least an hour passed while they sat there. Riddick eventually ended up leaning against a nearby tree and all but ignoring them.

When the more experience girl finally finished, she stood up and pulled a rather dazed Eliora to her feet. "We're on our way to Marygot City. It's fairly large so it'll be a good spot for you to really get started. Oh, and you'll be able to get a whole set of clothing, so you won't have to keep walking around in your work clothes."

Eliora tugged on her blue shirt self-consciously. "I work at Blockbuster…Or used to." She found herself staring at Riddick and flushed, looking away again. "Sorry, I'm still trying to take everything in. Like the fact that humans and…and Bishie are compatible." Remembering where she'd woken up, she lifted her gaze to Riddick once more. "Thank you for…erm…for carrying me. Why were you doing that anyway?"

Liz laughed while Riddick seemed to shift uncomfortably. "You are welcome…My trainer thought you'd prefer not to be poked away, but she wanted to get as close to Marygot as possible before you wake up. She correctly assumed you'd have a ton of questions." He didn't explain why it had been him carrying her, but Eliora figured that was not important anyway.

The older turned and started walking once more and Eliora fell into step with her. Riddick followed a bit more of a leisurely pace. He was musing at the difference between his trainer, who was tall with shoulder-length, straight blond hair and blue eyes, and the newbie, who was petite with thick chestnut curls and huge gray eyes. Liz looked quite capable of taking care of herself while Eliora looked far too delicate to even think about protecting herself. Riddick was not stupid, though, and he knew appearances could be deceiving. For example, Liz had never punched anything until she'd caught Riddick and he began to teach her to defend herself. The Bishonen wondered what the tiny new trainer was like.

As though feeling Riddick's gaze on her, the darker haired girl turned to look at him curiously. The big man met her gaze; she flushed and looked away again, just as Elrond joined them. The two Bishonen nodded at one another and the elf murmured something in Liz's ear. He was about to disappear into the surrounding trees again when he realized his trainer's companion was staring at him, eyes round.

"I see our guest has awoken. Good morning…?" He trailed off, the question clear in his voice.

"E-Eliora," the teen stuttered, feeling the blood rush to her cheeks once more. "Are you really real?" She was fascinated more than intimidated when it came to the elf.

"Yes, Lady Eliora, I am quite real." He glanced at a nearby tree. "I must return to scouting. Until we reach Marygot." With a small bow, Elrond melded into the surrounding trees.

Eliora let out a shaky breath while Liz watched her, quite amused. "Link is out there too. Don't worry, we're only four miles from the city now."

The teen groaned and Riddick, unnoticed, let a smile curve his lips. This young newbie would prove to be interesting.

It took them another couple of hours to make the long trek to the city gates. During that time, Eliora relaxed more fully with Liz and pelted her with a huge barrage of questions. Whenever Link or Elrond reappeared she quieted, watching them with awe. She also tended to get quiet whenever Riddick made his presence known, commenting on one thing or another of Liz's lessons. So, by the time the group had reached the city, Eliora had managed to get Liz, and Riddick, to tell her everything she needed to know. Liz had shown Eliora her own Bish-ball belt and her dex to give her a clearer understanding about them. She'd even had Riddick jump into his Bish-ball and then back out, to prove that the Bish-balls worked just like poke-balls.

"…So, it's no longer uncomfortable for our Bishies to remain in their Bish-balls for long periods of time. They have little dorm rooms. Nothing special, just beds in a nice sized room. Oh, and there's an extra door in the dorms, a portal of sorts added so that Bishies can visit one another while in their Bish-balls." Liz nodded to herself. "I think that's every-OH! Yes, there's one more thing. They've recently come up with clips you can insert into your Bish-ball belt and they'll add random monster attacks into your journeys. I don't have one yet, which is part of the reason why I'm here."

Eliora, busy absorbing all the information that had just been thrown at her, turned to throw one last question at Liz before the elves returned. "So, Liz. You have…Riddick, Elrond and Link. Do you have any others?" Curiosity filled her voice, gray eyes studying Liz's belt with interest.

The blond grinned. "Why, of course I do. I have a Spike from the Buffy territory and I recently acquired a Leo…from Charmed….I'm one of the few trainers here that is more interested in Bishies not from anime. My ultimate goal is to catch one of the rarest Bishies in the world. A Doctor…" Liz looked rather dreamy at the prospect of catching such a magnificent character.

The teen frowned. "The Doctor…As in Doctor Who? But how does it work? I mean, the TARDIS and…and regenerations and all of that."

"My guess is each regeneration is it's own Bishie type. And that territory grows with each new season back home. No one's heard any word about TARDISes, but I just want my Doctor…The fourth regeneration. Tom Baker's version…He's a god!" Liz looked like she was about to hit a full blown fangirl moment.

Except that's when the elves returned, so the trainer forced herself to calm down for a moment, nodded to the guards as they passed and guided the newbie to the orientation building. "You're going to hear the same things I just told you…Although I hear they're running a new program where you no longer have to catch your first Bishie on your own." She paused. "Someone will be waiting for you when you get out, I'll reserve rooms at an inn for us. Good luck, Eli."

"Thank you. See you on the other side." Grinning, she opened the door and stepped into the cool, dark interior of the lobby.


	2. Chapter 2

Shini: Helloo again! I'm on a roll right now, second chapter here we go. So, I still have no plot, but the third chapter is already in the workings. Wish me luck!

Disclaimer: Don't own the PD sphere Bish-ball (belongs to Lady Demoonica Darkmoon), nor the Bishi-world (I borrowed the world from Songwind's story). In fact, the only things I currently own are the trainers. Paws off of them, at least!

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Chapter 2

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There was a receptionist sitting behind a desk. She barely glanced up at Eliora approached her before pointing at a row of chairs. There was one other person there. A redheaded young man who introduced himself as Matthew. He was a tall, lanky fellow who looked to be around Eliora's age and his skin was a healthy sun-kissed brown in color. Snapping green eyes matched the excited smile that curved his lips.

She took a seat next to him, pondering his board shorts. "Were you preparing to go surfing or something?"

"Actually, no. I was getting ready to go meet some friends when I noticed I had e-mail. Sooo, I sat down in front of my computer instead of grabbing a shirt. Luckily the girl who found me had a shirt that fit me." He picked at the pink t-shirt covering his torso. "Unfortunately it and my hair do not agree." Matthew was quite right; the violent pink of his shirt was clashing horribly with the carrot-y redness of his hair. "What about you?"

Eliora gestured to her blue shirt. "I work…worked at Blockbuster. I stopped to check my e-mail before heading to work and here I am." Yet there was no upset in the grin she flashed at him. "Not that it displeases me, but still…"

They both looked up as a small group of four exited a door on the right of the receptionist desk, looking dazed but really happy. Some of them had Bishies walking with them, one of them was clutching a Bish-ball as though uncertain what to do with it.

The door on the left of the desk opened. Just as a scientist-looking guy gestured them to follow him, a group of girls suddenly entered the lobby. The scientist's shoulders appeared to slump as six more people were added to the original two. Yet, he dutifully led the eight teens up a set of stairs and into a room that resembled a college lecture hall. Once everyone had sat down, he started in on his speech. His Bishoujo, a Megumi, pushed a DVD into a player and pressed play when the sound of his voice stopped.

Eliora drifted in her mind, wondering what Liz was doing at that moment. When that did not prove fruitful enough thoughts to keep her entertained long enough, her attention fell on the 'teacher'. He was young enough, and very handsome with honey blond hair and warm brown eyes. Back home, he would have been quite a catch. Then again, seeing as she knew humans were..compatible with Bishies, perhaps he was..taken? The thought was so very strange, that she shied away from it. His voice was deep and pleasant, at least.

Her gaze had fallen upon the Megumi, whom was dressed rather modernly considering the show she was from. She remembered Liz had told her that Bishies sometimes took after their trainers. Perhaps Megumi had adapted to modern life? It certainly looked that way what with the jeans and blouse.

Finally, the movie ended and Eliora sat up straighter. The scientist, whose name was Henry, gestured that they all stand. "Alright, follow Megumi in a neat, single file!" The teen felt as though her stomach had disappeared. She remembered seeing something at the end of the movie about the next step pertaining to…real Bishies. Oh, how exciting and absolutely terrifying. She hadn't done so well with Liz's Bishonen, so what was she to do now that she was going to meet others? Nervously, she curled one lock around her index finger so tightly her finger began to turn purple. Noticing this, she tried to untangle her hand just as Megumi stopped at a door.

With a painful yank, Eliora got her hand free and set about wringing its companion nervously. Megumi's expression was kind when her gaze met the teen's gray eyes. "Past this point, there is to be no glomping of any of the Bishies until you've both agreed to a claim. Two, please do not throw any food, as this will start a huge food fight and you will have to go home. Immediately."

Although she listened, the brunette was a bit busy trying to remember exactly how they'd come to be standing before this door. She remembered something about going back downstairs, but then the door was opening and Matthew, who was just before her, was stepping across the threshold. Then it was her turn. A wave of panic washed through her and she met Megumi's eyes. The Bishoujo laid a hand on her shoulder, effectively stopping the girl. "Calm yourself, they don't bite."

Her smile was kind, and Eliora managed to smile back shyly before being released. She stepped into what appeared to be a ballroom. There were tables of food on one side and so many Bishie milling around that she felt dizzy looking at them all. They had all paused momentarily to study the new group of trainers that had just entered, their expressions curious, interested. Gray eyes scanned the very large…group of Bishie as recognition snapped at her several times. How strange it was to see Toboe talking to Momiji. Or…was that…? It was, Jay from. From…Oh yes, Magical JXR, her mind reminded her.

Eliora froze when several screams rent the air. A good portion of the Bishies in the room tensed and all eyes turned to the sources of the sound. The girls, whose names Eliora hadn't bothered to learn, had all spotted a lone Edward Cullen and were amassing around him, all looking as though it was taking every ounce of self-control they had not to pounce on him; Edward, for his part, looked somewhat alarmed. She stared at the vampire in shock. Books…Yes, right, he was from a book after all. Yet, she had not expected to ever see Edward Cullen. Idly, she wondered if he could read the minds of humans.

His head snapped up and his gaze, which was luckily a soft golden color, locked on her. He nodded shortly at her and she flushed. Wheeling away immediately, she spotted a pitcher of water on the table. Water. She hadn't realized how thirsty she was until she saw it. Making a beeline for the table, she poured herself a glass of the icy liquid and took a gulp, sighing in relief as it cooled her aching throat.

Finally, she took note of the figure standing not too far away, holding a cup of icy water in one of his elegant hands. Eliora turned and her eyes widened as they fell upon a Legolas. "Oh!"

He was watching her, curiosity in his eyes. It was as though he was wondering if she was going to attack him. She didn't move, feeling rather dazed. Carefully he stepped towards her and bowed just slightly. "Good afternoon, lady of the grey eyes."

Eliora flushed. "N-No. Eliora, please." When he smiled, she felt like she might just melt into the ground. Who would have thought she'd meet a Legolas so soon. "I-I'm so very sorry, but I feel rather faint. You won't be offended if I look at the floor will you?"

Legolas chuckled. "If it will make you feel better, go ahead, Lady Eliora." He took a sip of his water, his sharp gaze fastening on her with interest; she could feel her cheeks burning as yet more blood rushed to make them even redder.

Eventually, she managed to engage him in conversation, although she stumbled. He was very polite, not even laughing when she struggled to come up with coherent sentences. When she flicked a glance to find out what had become of the Edward, she met his gaze and saw the amusement there. Immediately, she looked away again.

Returning her full attention to the elf standing before her, she uttered the lamest thing she possibly could under the circumstances. "The…The trainer who brought me here has an Elrond. I never realized just how beautiful he was until-" Cutting herself off, Eliora's cheeks felt like they would be permanently stained scarlet for the rest of her life.

Legolas, however, was laughing. "Don't let his appearance fool you; he's just as wise as the stories say. On the other hand, the beauty he has is a trait that many elves appear to share. This, I believe, is probably why we are all so very popular to catch." He paused when he noticed she was staring at him. "My apologies, have I said something that has offended your senses?"

"N-No," she shook her head, embarrassed. "It's just…Liz said that Legolas' tended to speak oddly, but you speak in a manner that is quite normal. Or perhaps I'm odd?" She tilted her head, apparently really musing about this idea.

Legolas was about to respond when another of the girls joined them. Politely, he turned his attention to her and Eliora slipped away. Not that she didn't simply adore Legolas, but..He appeared to be busy. She was studying the Bishies again, wondering who would be safest to approach next when she saw someone she'd never thought she'd ever, every see. A Clark Kent hung out rather uncomfortably against the back wall. As though drawn to him, the girl made her way around all of the other Bishies until she reached him.

She looked up at him and smiled. "Hello."

Clark looked down and smiled back. "Hello…I'm gonna guess you know who I am, otherwise I doubt you'd have approached me."

Eliora nodded. "I'm Eliora. And you…" She paused and looked down. "Sorry, I'm trying to be good. It's just…You're one of my all-time favorite characters. I used to watch Smallville back home and now, here you are."

Clark flushed, actually managing to be both flattered and embarrassed at the same time. "Well, thank you."

She laughed and then froze. "Wait, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be laughing. I just…This will sound really, really sappy and silly, but bear with me. I feel like I know you when I shouldn't, since I've been watching you on Smallville for the last eight years." She glanced down apologetically.

"Don't feel bad. I will warn you, though…I may not be exactly the same person as the one you saw on TV. The same can be said for all of the bishi in the world. I've met a Clark who was absolutely insane. He tried to destroy our village, so we had to take him out. It was the hardest thing my father ever did, I believe," Clark realized he was lost in his own memories and returned to the present with the young trainer. "In any case, I feel lost since I do not yet know you and you already know so much about me."

The brunette frowned. "This is making me feel like a stalker. Let's start over. I only know the man on TV. You are not him. So, we can just say that I only know the basic story, I don't know you…." She trailed off, gray eyes studying him. "So…why aren't you with Lois..er…Lana right now?"

"I can accept your terms." He tilted his head to one side, patiently waiting for her question, when it came, he sighed. "I knew you would ask this. No, don't apologize. Everyone knows that all types of Clarks are typically enamored with their counterpart Lois'. My type of Clark has two loves, although we only like Lana through mid-San stage. To answer your question, I wasn't raised in the Smallville territory. So I'm really not your typical Smallville Clark. I've never met a Lana, so I haven't had the time to entangle myself in the Lana-Clark-Lois triangle. Thus, I guess you could say I'm a pure, unsullied by love Clark Kent." Clark frowned. "That's not to say that if you caught a Clark in the Smallville territory he'd automatically be in love with Lana or Lois, sometimes it just doesn't work that way. In any case, I went travelling when I was a San. And now that I'm a Sama, I figured I'd find out what life with a trainer would be like."

Eliora nodded, her eyes were huge and round. "W-Wow….To counter that I can also promise that I'm not entangled in any silly love triangle. So I'm not running away from any suitors back home." This earned her a laugh from Clark. She wondered at the remark about his father, seeing as he had not grown up in his own territory.

They sank into a conversation about the different types of kryptonite and how they worked in the Bishi-world order, Clark quite willing to tell her a bit about what he'd learned. However, eventually Henry started calling for the newbie trainers to come back to the door with their chosen Bishies. Snapped out of her conversation, Eliora turned, spotting Matthew sporting a huge grin and guiding an Urd towards the door. She remembered Liz saying something about Goddesses being rare types and wondered why an Urd would have volunteered to be caught. The girls were all leading their chosen Bishies (Vash, Gohan, Nakatsu, Yahiko, Fuma, & Edward) to the door already. The lucky girl who'd won Edward couldn't keep from hugging his arm. The vampire, for his part, looked far too patient.

Henry's Megumi made her way to where Eliora and Clark were. Legolas was no where to be seen. The brunette wondered if she'd ever meet another Legolas who was as interesting as he'd been. Right now, her decision was made. She glanced at the tall Bishonen for approval, when he nodded, she turned to Megumi.

"Clark and I are ready to go. We were just lost in conversation," she said with a smile.

The Bishoujo blinked and returned the smile then lead the way back to Henry. Clark fell into step behind her. When they reached the rest of the group, Henry led the way out the door and down the hall to another room. When he pulled out a needle, Eliora took a step closer to Clark rather warily. He chuckled, amused. Matthew was kind enough to go first, letting some of his blood be pulled out of his veins before he was gestured towards yet another door. Finally, Henry gestured Eliora forward, a needle gleaming in one hand. Gulping, the teen offered her arm, remember again what Liz had told her. She barely felt the sting, to her surprise. She heard the whir of a machine as Henry pointed at the only other door in the room. Shoulders slumping and wondering when the maze of doors would end, she obediently entered the room when Clark grabbed the door for her, for which she smiled at him gratefully.

This time, she got her dex, belt and Bish-balls. The young woman had her program her dex first, which was a simple, efficient task and then she handed Eliora her belt, which she immediately put on, and her Bish-balls. After studying the tiny little things wonderingly, she put all of them away, keeping only one in her hand. Without being told, she pushed the button in the center of the ball, since she remembered how Liz had done it to Riddick. It still made her jump, but not as badly as before.

"Sorry, Clark." Eliora lifted her hand and tapped his arm with the Bish-ball. He immediately disappeared into the ball in a flash, and blur, of red light. The ball trembled faintly in her hand, though not enough to really startle her. Once it had stilled, she held it out again. "Come on out, Clark." The tall Bishonen reappeared, appearing rather dazed but otherwise fine. "Riddick said there were rooms in there…Are you alright, Clark?"

He shook himself and nodded. "Yes, I'm fine. I had heard the rumors, but I hadn't quite believed that…Well, that there was now enough room to really get comfortable."

The young woman was watching them both, somewhat surprised. "I'm guessing the trainer that brought you in showed you some things?" Eliora nodded and the other female grinned. "Great! Get going, I bet that redhead is waiting for you in the lobby."

Exiting yet another door, she found herself in a hallway that obviously led back to the door on the right side of the receptionist's desk. "Wow…That was probably the most dizzying thing that's happened all day…I wonder who Liz sent to wait for us..?"

"Liz being the trainer that brought you here, right?" At his trainer's nod, Clark fell silent.

Matthew was, of course, waiting for them in the lobby. After assuring him she was fine and then exchanging dex numbers quickly, she left him to his Urd. When she stepped outside, Clark in tow, she found Elrond waiting for them. "Hello again!"

Elrond smiled. "Welcome back to the outside world. Come, I do believe Liz is waiting for us." He turned and set off away from the orientation building.

Eliora tried to keep pace with him. "Three miles, right?"

He slowed his long strides so that the short trainer wouldn't have to work quite as hard. "Yes. Well, you might not want to stray far at all from Clark. You guys need to bond first. Otherwise, you'll be in a world of pain, invulnerable or not." There was knowledge in his gaze.

Clark, who'd been walking behind them, sped up so that he could join the conversation. "Have you met another Clark before?" Curiosity filled his voice and his gaze flickered over Elrond before returning to the passing Bishies and trainers.

"Oh yes. Liz heard of a battle between a Clark, or Superman, and a Goku. She pulled all of us along with her to go and watch it. Of course, it was a tie although some still swear that one or the other won. I doubt we'll ever know the real answer to the question of who is stronger." Elrond sounded incredibly amused.

Eliora gulped. "Didn't they destroy the surrounding area? Wait," she paused as both Bishonen glanced at her curiously. "Is there more than one…well…type of Clark?" She, again, remembered Clark's remark about his father and the insane Clark.

"No, they didn't destroy the surrounding area. I do not remember who, at this time, but there was a Bishonen there to keep them isolated within a certain area. I believe a force field was used." The elf sounded amused, he figured he'd let Clark pick up the second question.

The kryptonian did just that. "Yes, there is more than one type of Clark...In fact-"

"Oh. My! GOD! IS THAT A SMALLVILLE CLARK?" A shriek of joy filled the air with noise.

Eliora stopped walking to turn to see who was causing the commotion. She found a young woman, perhaps a few years older than herself, straining against the grip of another Clark. The teen blinked as she recognized the other Bishie. He was from Lois & Clark. Interesting…Letting her gaze scan the rest of the Bishies surrounding the frantic woman, she found three other Clarks. The Clark holding his trainer did not appear to be exerting any effort at all. Meanwhile, her own Clark had stepped closer to her, whether to protect her or him, she couldn't tell.

"Well, yes…I suppose he is from…Smallville.." She glanced up at her Bishonen for confirmation, when he nodded, she returned her gaze to the fangirl. "Please, calm down..I'm sure, if you ask nicely, he'll let you hug him." Again, she glanced at Clark for backup.

The other girl stilled and smoothed her hair, her Clark let her go. "Sorry about that. I'm Megan. I've been looking everywhere for a Smallville Clark…" Her eyes lit up.

Elrond gently tugged on Eliora's arm. "We really must be going."

Nodding, she turned back to the Clark-fan. "Look, let's exchange dex numbers and we can make plans to meet up tomorrow or something."

"Yes, of course. That sounds fantastic." Pulling out her dex, Megan waited until Eliora had done the same. In less than a minute they were programming one another's numbers in, the systems accepting everything smoothly.

With a wave of goodbye, Megan led her Bishie to a nearby store. Eliora watched them go. "I wonder…Is she going to buy new clothes for all of them?"

Clark, for his part, seemed somewhat amused now that Megan had safely left. "Probably, although it's pretty easy to tell them apart. None of the different types of Clark look the same, after all."

Rolling her eyes, she smacked his arm lightly. "That doesn't mean she might not appreciate them changing clothes every once in a while…" She turned back to Elrond. "Alright, I don't think we'll get interrupted again. Let's go meet with Liz!"


	3. Chapter 3

Shini: Hello yet again! My next installment has finally arrived! Yay for still having no plot?

Lady Demoonica Darkmoon: Long time no see! I kind of noticed everyone had stopped writing them and was a little worried that my sudden bout of inspiration might find disapproval. Oh, and about the 'real' character route. I will be doing anime later on, I just thought, since I haven't come across anyone with real characters that I'd start out my story a bit differently. So I put in the Clark-fan and Liz (who does have Link, that's something right?). I debated for a long time about who Eliora would get first. I mean, Clark is just such a powerful character; then again, there're girls who've left with Gokus, so I guess it doesn't entirely matter.

Disclaimer: I still only own the trainersss!!! PD sphere Bish-balls belong to Demoonica and the modified backpack, although mine, was spawned from Demoonica's story. As always, I got the idea of the Bishi-world from Songwind, so that is not mine either.

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Chapter 3

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When they reached the rooms Liz had gotten for them, Eliora collapsed on the bed. Clark took a seat on the plush couch set cozily against the wall, watching his trainer's back rise and fall. If she'd noticed, she would have laughed at him. Barely thirty seconds of relaxing later, Liz appeared.

"You got a Clark?" She admired the Bishonen, who flushed in response. "Those guys are incredibly rare! After all, if you have a Clark, very little can stand against you."

Eliora rolled over. "Really?" When both Clark and Liz nodded, her eyes widened. "Wow…" Shaking her head, she turned all of her attention to the blond. "Why'd you stick around anyway? You didn't even have to get me a room if you hadn't wanted to."

Liz grinned. "You're interesting enough for me to want to stick around. Besides, I thought I'd help you out tomorrow. You know, take you around to get all your free stuff. I'm bored anyway. So you're stuck with me." She yawned and flopped onto the bed next to the smaller girl. "'Sides Marygot borders the Lord of the Rings territory. I wanted to see if I could find me an Aragorn. Wanna come?"

Eliora pondered the offer. "Yes, actually, I'd like that quite a bit. I met a really interesting Legolas today. If it hadn't been for Clark, and the fact that Legolas disappeared by the time we left, there would've been a dilemma. Now, however, I really want to see if I can't catch a Legolas on my own. That way no one could ever say it was _me_ who bored Clark to death." She paused, thinking about home. "You know…this is like those old Pokemon games for the handheld systems. They always gave you your first Pokemon before you started out…In my case, I met Clark." Without warning, she threw herself off of the bed and into his arms. Although surprised, he instinctively wrapped his arms around her. Liz chuckled.

While Eliora was busy enjoying Bishi-world reality, Spike opened the door joining the two rooms. "What-Oh, nevermind."

His trainer turned to eye the vampire. "Where's Leo? Have you been torturing him again?"

"What?!?! _No_! I've been good! It's not my fault he's a wimp." He turned around. "Leo…Liz wants you." Then he disappeared into Liz's room once more, muttering something about Liz and sunlight.

Leo replaced Spike not long after. "Did you need something, Liz?" Eliora, who'd scene some of Charmed, turned to study the Whitelighter. From what little she knew of the show, she recognized him as looking a lot like the young, worry-free Leo from the first seasons rather than the father figure he became.

His trainer waved at Eliora and Clark. "Spike didn't stay long enough, but whatever. Leo, this is Eliora and her brand new Bishie, Clark Kent…The one from the Smallville territory."

The brunette waved and Leo waved back, his smile gentle. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Eliora." Instead of answering, the trainer flushed; by this point, she had slid off of Clark and was instead sitting next to him, keeping out of his personal space, not that he seemed to be bothered at all by her.

Liz yawned again. "Okay, introductions done…Bedtime." She got up and shepherded Elrond and Leo out of the room. There was a yell of protest that sounded a lot like Spike before it was muffled by Elrond's low, calming voice.

Eliora, for her part, wasn't sure what to do. That is, until the older trainer returned with pajamas for both the brunette and the Bishie. "I stole these from Riddick, so I'm certain they'll fit you, Clark. And these…well, they'll be big on you, but they'll work until we can get you your own clothes tomorrow. Go to sleep soon, I'll be getting you up early tomorrow." Setting the pajamas on the bed, Liz returned to her room, gently closing the door behind her.

"I'll just change in the bathroom." Turning red again, Eliora grabbed up the smaller pair of pajamas and disappeared into the attached bathroom. When she returned, struggling to roll up the sleeves and stumbling over the too-long legs of the light blue set, she found another pair of hands gently brushing hers aside already and quickly doing exactly what she wanted.

She glanced up at Clark gratefully; he was already in his dark blue pajama set. She pulled out her belt and retrieved his ball. Pushing the button and setting it against a windowless space of wall, she smiled when the door popped into existence. Once the door was open, she stood aside. "Good night Clark." Already in his little dorm room was a nice full bed with blankets and pillows. Liz hadn't mentioned that, so Eliora figured it was an update or something.

Clark was heading for his bed, so she figured she'd better stop staring at the little room. Turning, she clambered into her own bed, pulling the comforter up and slipping deep into sleep rather quickly. Her Bishonen studied her for a long moment before pulling his own blankets up and closing his eyes.

~*~

The next morning found Eliora curled up tightly in her blankets. Spike stood over her, looking rather irritated. He poked her and got no response. Remembering that the trainer he was pathetically trying to wake up had a Bishie of her own, he turned his gaze to the open door. And found Clark's bed was empty. When he turned back to the girl, he found the missing Bishonen standing next to him, practically glaring at him.

"Fine, you wake her up, then." With that, the vampire stomped back to his trainer's room. When the door joining the two rooms opened, yells that had been muffled burst into the room.

Eliora jerked awake at the noise and her head promptly slammed into Clark's. With a cry of pain, she flopped back into her pillows. "Good morning, then. Quite the wake up call."

"Sorry about that. I was about to wake you more gently but Spike was throwing a tantrum-" Clark began only to be cut off by Spike's: "Was _not_!"

Rubbing her forehead, the trainer sat up more carefully, a grin already falling into place. "I see. Spike's a temperamental one isn't he?" Clark nodded gravely and the brunette giggled. "Alright, better get dressed. I'm gonna see if I can't get you a couple changes of clothing too, so that you aren't stuck wearing the same thing all the time."

Clark sped off and was in and out of the bathroom in less than a minute. Eliora blinked in surprise. He picked at his blue jacket. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"

"Well, nothing. Except that clothes do get dirty, you know. And what with how often you destroyed your clothing in the show, I don't want to take any chances." She slid out of bed, trying not to laugh at his startled expression. "Unfortunately, I'm slower than you, so be patient." With that she grabbed her clothing and disappeared into the bathroom.

Clark decided to investigate the other room while he waited for Eliora and opened the door. Riddick stepped into the quieter room and slammed the door shut before Clark could say anything. "You don't want to be in there. Liz is not a morning person." There was no apparent fear in his voice, but he leaned against the door as though to ensure no one used it. From the other side there was a yell of outrage and then Elrond's voice lifted to soothe his trainer. Another moment and Leo orbed into Eliora's room as well.

That was when, of course, the trainer stepped out of her bathroom…And found three Bishie watching her. Turning flaming red, she threw a pillow at Clark. "Why'd you have to let them in here?"

Riddick caught the pillow, amused. "He didn't. We forced our way in. Liz is not an early morning riser." He tilted his head towards the door. "Ah, sounds like someone shut Spike up for the moment. I think it's safe enough to return." While he returned to his trainer, Leo took a seat on the unmade bed.

Eliora just buried her face in her hands. "Nobody told me it would be so very embarrassing."

~*~

It was another half an hour before Liz was ready to go. But, when they finally left the hotel the group was smaller and quieter. Elrond and Link had decided to rest, while Spike was just being stubborn. The three of them had retreated into their respective Bish-balls. Leo and Clark and taken a liking to one another and were discussing something in hushed tones, every once in a while they would speed up to keep pace with their trainers, Riddick had fallen in step next to Liz as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

Liz led them from store to store until the pack Eliora had picked up at the Gear Shop was bulging with useful items. She was feeling pretty lucky to have befriended Liz, for the blond had argued pretty forcefully on her behalf. The pack itself took Capsule Corp. capsules and digitized them, storing them who-knew-where and allowing a trainer to sort through the available capsules via a small screen in the small front pocket without going through the trouble of pulling them all out. This made it far easier to find the capsule one was looking for. Eliora had been told that the idea had been modified from a wristwatch type of updated dex.

Liz had finally had her turn on her dex again – she'd turned it off after programming it – and it had spewed information about Clark at her. Then it had asked for a nickname. She'd thought about 'Smallville' or 'CK', but when she caught her Bishie's wary expression, she'd said none. He had immediately relaxed, causing Leo to laugh.

When lunch time came around, Liz chose a restaurant with tinted windows and a dark interior. Once they were settled at a table as far away from the windows and any too-bright sources of light as possible, Spike and the elves were let out of their Bish-balls. Riddick even pulled his goggles up, revealing his eyes, causing Eliora to stare at him, fascinated.

When he turned to her, she flushed. "I-Sorry. I've seen your eyes in the movies back home, but it's not nearly the same as really seeing them."

He nodded, accepting her explanation and turned to the newly arrived waitress. "Hello…" The girl practically squeaked when he spoke to her, eyes huge.

Immediately, Liz took control. "I don't want any problems, guys. Just give your orders." She turned to the waitress. "Spike wants warm blood, please." The vampire glared at her, but everyone was already ordering so he stayed silent.

"You didn't have to order for me," he snapped at his trainer once the poor girl was gone.

"I knew you'd intimidate the poor thing. I doubt she has any scary Bishie at all." Liz sat back, looking almost smug.

Eliora leaned forward. "Hey, don't tease the poor girl. I didn't care for Spike-" Spike glared at her – "but I was a big fan of Riddick back home. And Riddick scares me, whether or not he means to."

"I don't think he would be such a very happy person unless he knew he scared people," Liz replied.

Riddick smirked, obviously amused. "It not always intentional, Eliora. I'm just naturally terrifying, unlike Mr. Glow-in-the-Dark over there." Spike hissed in response.

Leo and Clark were still ignoring everyone, but Elrond was taking in everyone's words quietly. His knowing gaze locked onto Liz. "Will we be looking for Bishie today?"

"Oh yes. I want Aragorn!" Liz smiled almost evilly.

Link, the quietest of them all, shivered. "Liz is terrifying when she goes fangirl. I think she can outdo even Riddick…"

"I'm just enthusiastic," his trainer said sweetly.

"A little too enthusiastic, I think." Spike put in, earning himself a dangerous look from the blond. He didn't flinch, instead his expression became challenging.

Liz looked like she was going to take him on when the waitress reappeared and carefully unloaded the dishes she'd brought with her. The last thing she set on the table was a glass of thick, red liquid. Eliora looked away and Spike smirked.

"Looks like the new little angel is squeamish," he practically purred. "Would you like a taste, Eliora? I can assure you its positively divine. Might've even come from a vir-" A resounding slap filled the room, the vampire froze, but Liz was already turning back to her food.

"Dig in, everyone. Ignore the idiot." She didn't look to be in a mood to tease, so her Bishie obediently turned to their meals. Leo and Clark managed to stop talking long enough to being shoveling food into their mouths as fast as they could. Both of them looked eager to continue their conversation.

Elrond was watching the younger trainer, she still looked rather upset. "Don't mind Spike, Lady of the gray eyes. He treats everyone like that. Eventually he'll become Sama and his personality won't be quite as repulsive as it is right now." Spike looked like he wanted to argue, but Riddick glanced his way and he clamped his mouth shut instead.

Eliora smiled shyly at Elrond. "Thank you. I didn't mean to be so sensitive about it."

"Ah, don't feel bad. I let Spike get to me too, at first. After a while I managed to ignore most of his idiocy. This is good practice for if you ever catch an unruly Bishie. Now, eat up so we can be on our way!" Liz pat Eliora's back good-naturedly.

"Unruly Bishie…Right!" Obediently, she dug into her food, trying to eat as fast as she could so that they could get out into the field all the sooner.

Liz laughed. "I guess I'm not the only enthusiastic person!"

~*~

On the way to the gates of the city, they ran into Megan again. She promptly latched onto Eliora's Clark and refused to let go. When her Clark managed to pry her off of the poor Bishonen, they managed to get explanations in. Tearfully, Megan had had to admit that she was not up to a day of hunting LotR Bishie. In fact, she was heading to another city in order to participate in some sort of rare Bishie contest. She promised she would call Eliora as soon as possible. Once they'd managed to disentangle themselves from Megan's group, Liz confidently led the way through the gates and straight into the forest.

Eliora stuck more closely to Clark once they were immersed in the green landscape. Liz just plowed on ahead. Everyone was out of their Bish-balls except Spike, though whether this was due to the sun or his tendency to be cruel to everyone, Eliora wasn't certain. Link and Elrond were off scouting again, just in case something nasty tried to surprise them. Riddick wasn't even trying to keep up with his trainer, in fact he looked bored. Clark and Leo had finally ended their conversation, for the time being, both of them were very quiet and highly aware that something hostile could jump out at any moment.

Eliora was lingering a little behind everyone, including Clark, when she heard the low murmur of voices. She froze, straining to figure out from which direction they were coming. Liz was still forcing her way through the defiant vegetation, looking as though absolutely nothing, except an Aragorn, would deter her from her path. So, the brunette slipped away from the path her friend had forged and quietly headed in the direction the voices were coming from. There were two of them and they were speaking in hushed, hurried tones.

Taking a guess, Eliora decided they must both be Bishie. She pulled a pair of empty Bish-balls off of her belt. However, both she and whoever her quarry was were startled when a shout of triumph filled the air. Liz had probably found her…victim. There was a murmur and then movement as two figures began heading in different directions. Eliora was torn by indecision until she realized one of the two was headed directly for her. She threw one of the Bish-balls and then dashed after the second figure, not looking back to see if the ball had met its target.

There was a rustle to her right and she threw her second ball. Stopping, she waited to see if someone was going to attack her. When no such thing happened, she decided she'd probably not caught anybody and began to search for her Bish-balls.

"Eliora!?!?" Clark's voice sounded nearby. He couldn't seem to pinpoint exactly where she was, but he knew she was nearby.

The trainer bit her lip before straightening from her search. "Over here, Clark!" When he appeared, his eyes focused first on her belt, which was missing two Bish-balls. "Yes, right. I thought I heard voices. So I gave the whole throwing Bish-balls a try. I don't know where they've fallen. Could you help me?"

Before her question had even truly ended, he was off, faster than her eye could follow. Only the rustling of the foliage around her let her know he was still around. She was just bending to continue her search when he stopped in front of her, holding both of the missing Bish-balls. "I'm not certain, but I believe at least one is occupied."

"Really?" Eliora practically bounced with elation at this simple statement.

Clark nodded. "Let's return to Liz so that we're not entirely lost when you release whoever you've caught." Immediately, Eliora grabbed his hand and dragged him back towards where she thought her friend was.

He stopped her and turned her around, then allowed her to drag him anyway. In truth, he appeared to be more amused by it than anything else. When they found Liz, her arms were wrapped tightly about her new Bishonen. It appeared she had succeeded in her mission and caught an Aragorn. For his part, he looked like he might be running out of oxygen.

Eliora winced. "Liz, you might want to let him breathe, just a little. I'm sure he'd appreciate it."

"I know, but I have to hug him too, otherwise he won't realize how much I love him!" She appeared to be in permanent fangirl mode for the moment. Although she did have enough of her senses to relax her hold on Aragorn, who flashed Eliora a grateful smile. Elrond had returned and he looked like he was trying really hard not to laugh at his fellow Bishie's position.

Eliora gently took her two newly (perhaps?) inhabited Bish-balls and held them out. "Come out, whoever you are!"


	4. Chapter 4

Shini: Here is the fourth chapter. Sorry that it took me sooo long. I was struggling. It may not seem like Eliora's the same easily-blushing girl at the end, but I'll explain why soon enough. It's quite simple really…

Disclaimer: Still only own the trainers. Bishi-world was taken from Songwind's story, PD Spheres was from Demoonica's story…And all the non-trainer characters belong to their respective owners.

~*~

Chapter 4

~*~

Two flashes of light rather than one appeared. When the light cleared, there stood before the group a surprised Legolas and an unhappy Yue. Aragorn, whom Liz had finally released, seemed rather surprised and somewhat concerned. He met Legolas's gaze questioningly. The elf shook his head very slightly. This little exchange went unnoticed by the trainers, but all of the Bishie knew at that moment that Yue was not in the LotR territory by accident.

Eliora stepped closer to Legolas, eyes narrowed; the elf tensed. "You….and him…" She didn't notice everyone staring at her. Suddenly her eyes widened. "It's you!"

Liz blinked. "Are you unfamiliar with Lord of the Rings?" Legolas, however, was rather startled by the recognition in his new trainer's voice.

Eliora shook her head. "No! It's _him_! The Legolas I met yesterday! That was _him_!"

Elrond frowned, though his eyes were gentle. "It is easy to confuse one Legolas for another, young one."

"No," Clark spoke and all eyes turned to him. "She's right. Although I don't understand why he returned home if he volunteered."

Legolas finally spoke up. "I took a chance so that I might see the city without the dangers of being caught. Although, I must say, young Lady Eliora entranced me yesterday." Leo and Clark exchanged glances. Riddick's gaze flicked from the three newly-caught Bishounen to the two who'd been holding a hushed conversation earlier that day; he knew something was going on, he just didn't know what it was yet.

The trainers found Legolas's explanation acceptable. Eliora smiled at him. "It's a pleasure to meet you…again. I will try to avoid staring at the ground from now on." To avoid turning red in embarrassment, she switched her attention to the angel standing next to Legolas. "Yue…" Her eyes got dreamy and Yue tensed, expecting her to launch herself at him.

Instead of attacking him as he'd thought she would, she turned flaming red, which was something she'd been trying to avoid. "This…is so very frustrating…" She was distracted by the insistent beeping of her dex and pulled that out; Yue crossed his arms and stared up at the sky, ignoring her. Once she'd pulled the dex out, it began spewing information at her about Legolas, IDing him as her first catch of the day.

_Legolas Greenleaf. Stage – Sama. Son of the Elvenking of Mirkwood, he was selected to represent the Elves in the Fellowship of the Ring. His endurance, keen sight, and fighting skills were of great help on the quest, but his loyalty and friendship were even greater assets to his companions. Legolas-_

Pushing a button, Eliora shook her head at the thing; she really didn't need any background info on the elf.

_Nickname? Y/N_

Glancing at Legolas, she realized she would never be able to look him in the eye if she gave him a nickname. "No nickname." Luckily the dex, although on silent mode, still responded to voice commands. Clark was watching the screen over her shoulder, but her other two Bishie's attention had only just been caught by her words. Legolas and Aragorn seemed to be attempting to have some sort of silent conversation via their eyes.

_Yue. Stage – Sama. One of the two Guardians of the Clow Cards, Yue judges the candidates chosen to be the next Master of the Clow._ _On the outside he acts very cold and aloof and is much more serious and intimidating than his counterpart, Cerberus. Although he'll never admit it, he's a very kind being. Due to the bond he shared with Clow, he finds it hard to accept any trainer as his master. Yet, once his loyalty has shifted, it shows in his actions._

_Nickname? Y/N_

"No nickname." Eliora wanted to scroll over to the powers and abilities section of the Yue profile, but before she could, there was a flurry of movement. When she looked up, Link and Leo had both disappeared, meanwhile both Elrond and Riddick had reached their trainer and grabbed her; both of Aragorn's hands had wrapped around one of Liz's arms, which were still wrapped around the poor ranger.

To top it off, Clark, Yue and Legolas had all taken hold of some part of her. As the girl took all of this in, the ground beneath her feet seemed to shake slightly and she leaned back against Clark in some surprise. She caught an almost apologetic glance from Liz and then…she was gone. Eliora blinked in confusion. "….What?"

"The Bishi-world…" Clark sighed, releasing her. "It grows to accommodate all of the new series popping into existence in your world. That…was a growth spurt."

Yue had stepped away, crossing his arms again and effectively pulling off the disinterested, irritated expression perfectly. Legolas was studying her with some concern, although he, too, had released her. Eliora shook her head, trying to wrap her mind around the fact that Liz…was not there anymore. She had known that she and the older girl would go different ways eventually, but she hadn't though it would be so soon. Good thing she'd brought her backpack with her that morning, nothing had been left at the hotel.

"Well…Might as well figure out where we ended up." Eliora turned back to her dex and exited Yue's profile in order to pull up the map. Studying it, she frowned. "It says…Ronin Warriors…And…Oh god. Oh…" She turned huge eyes on her three Bishie, cheeks flushed with excitement. "Do you know what this means?" When none of the males answered her, she continued on. "Ryo! And Sage…Hair…" An evil glint appeared in her gaze. "I'm going to find a Sage and mess his hair up so bad it'll take three weeks for him to fix it…"

At this, Legolas looked somewhat alarmed. "I do not think this Lord Sage will appreciate such an act."

"That's the point, don't you see? His hair is too perfect, I've always wanted to-" Suddenly she cut herself off as another thought came to her. She was alone…with three guys. No Liz, no mom…No one else.

After a second's thought, she shook it off, no use worrying about something she couldn't change. Besides, she doubted that any of the Bishonen she'd caught would ever do anything perverted to her; more like she'd explode from embarrassment before any of them touched her in a perverted manner. Glancing up at the sky, she frowned again. "It was midday…"

Clark followed her gaze. "We're also pretty far from where we were. That growth threw us, I think. We might've gone through a time-warping territory."

Eliora tried to think about how that could all work and then forced herself to stop. The attempt to figure something like that out hurt. "Well, I suppose we should set up camp…somewhere relatively safe. Legolas, Clark, could you guys collect firewood? At a normal speed, if you please. Yue, if you wouldn't mind helping me locate a good spot?"

Clark and Legolas disappeared into the surrounding forestry, although they were both careful to stay within six feet of their trainer due to the bond. Yue, with a curt nod, spread his wings and lifted himself into the sky; luckily he cleared the trees without needing to tug on the bond. He circled once, twice and then spiraled back down to his trainer. "About thirty yards from here, there's a small clearing."

"Perfect! Thanks, Yue!" She smiled at him and then set off, her angel Bishonen trailing her.

~*~

By the time Legolas and Clark rejoined them with a suitable amount of firewood, Eliora had set up camp to the best of her ability. There was only one sleeping bag rolled out and she was currently rummaging through a fridge, looking for edible food, no doubt. It certainly was a good thing Liz had insisted on packing the thing full of food. Eliora and Bishie were not going to starve for what looked like two months. That is, if the group remained small.

Yue was fingering a can of pop that the teen had tossed at him as though uncertain as to whether he should drink it or just hold onto it. Legolas set down his load and Clark set his next to the first. While the elf set about setting up the fire pit, Clark joined the trainer at the fridge.

"If you'd like…I can cook," his offer was hesitant, as though uncertain of her reaction.

Eliora straightened and would have hit her head if Clark's hand hadn't stopped her; he guided her head safely out of the confines of the fridge. "Then you are my new best friend, Clark. Liz stuck a ton of things in here. Most of which I don't know what to do with." Suddenly, she turned on him, eyes huge and pleading. "Can you make chili?"

Clark blinked. "Of course I can make chili." She cheered and, after grabbing two more cans of pop, stepped out of his way. The Kryptonian only paused to glance at the finished fire pit and set the fire alight for Legolas before burrowing into the fridge himself.

Eliora joined the elf next to the cheerily burning fire and handed him one of the cans of pop. She waved Yue over, and the angel reluctantly joined them. "I don't know if either of you have ever had pop before. It's…well..it's good." She really wasn't sure how to explain the carbonated drink. She popped open her own can and took a sip, sighing with rather exaggerated happiness. Clark chuckled.

~*~

After a hot meal of chili and pop, Eliora tried to return her Bishie to their balls. All of them stared at her as though she were insane.

"You want us to leave you alone out here, unprotected, in the wilds of a maybe-hostile territory?" Clark appeared to be in a state of shock that any trainer would assume he'd do such a thing. "What if you get attacked?"

Eliora raised an eyebrow. "Who's gonna-" She cut herself off. "No, never mind, I know very well who would do such a thing. Alright, fine, what do you suggest?"

Clark grabbed his Bish-ball and set up the PD sphere. "You're taking my bed, I'll take the floor. Don't protest, young lady."

The teenager stomped her foot. "I'm not that young! I'm seventeen…Besides, I don't think it's going to rain." A frown fell into place as thunder boomed in the near distance. "Dammit…."

The Kryptonian laughed and opened the door leading to his room. "If you would?"

Grumbling, she balled up the sleeping bag she'd laid out earlier. Relieved that Clark had talked some sense into her, Yue and Legolas both willingly returned to their respective balls. Legolas immediately used the portal door in his room to find Aragorn and fill him in on the things he'd missed. Information that would be spread to Liz's other Bishie, no doubt.

Clark slipped the sleeping bag out of his trainer's arms as she passed him, closing the door to the PD sphere as the rain began to fall.

~*~

Three days later, the group was still wandering around the same area without having located the trainer city that was supposed to be nearby. Eliora frowned at her map, wondering if it were faulty. She was about to ask Yue if he could fly up and locate the city from above when they all heard crashing. Her Bishie automatically arranged themselves in a protective line in front of her. Instead of meekly hiding behind them, Eliora stepped past Clark and Legolas.

To everyone's surprise a tiny, dark blur came flying out of the brush in front of them and threw itself into Eliora's chest. Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around a small body, taking a step back from the force that had come with its momentum. Barely a second later there was a blade pointed at her throat. In reaction, Legolas's bow was taut, Yue's suddenly formed energy-bow was also taut and Clark was glaring at the owner of the blade as though preparing to do something.

Eliora only stared up at the armored figure. "Holy shi-"

"Eliora, now's not the time," Clark snapped, barely sparing her a glance.

The teen didn't move. "Cale? You're Cale, right?"

Cale snarled, visibly enraged. "Give him to me! That brat ruined my hair!"

In response, Eliora's arms tightened around the small form in her arms, in the back of her mind she came to the realization that she must be holding a chibi. However, that was not currently important. Instead, she leaned forward, into the blade, causing all of her Bishie to tense. Cale didn't pull back, angry as he was.

"I see nothing wrong with your hair. It's…oh. It's pink," she began laughing. "Wow, now that's just fantastic." When Cale's blade pushed just a tiny bit harder against her throat, Eliora stepped back. "Look, I see why you're angry, but chasing a chibi all the way out here? Someone will notice and come after you…If any of the Ronins find out you were planning on killing a chibi over something silly like that, they'd laugh you out of town, and then kill you. Although, since it's the Bishie-world, I'm guessing they wouldn't be the only ones after your head."

Cale paled. "Fine, I'll just chop one of his hands off. He doesn't need both of them!"

The chibi finally spoke up from the safety of Eliora's arms. "Yes I do! Ryo promised to teach me to use a sword!!!"

Eliora blinked down at the little boy in her arms, eyes huge. "Y-Yuli…." Immediately, she retreated and Clark put himself in front of her without giving Cale time to react. "Yuli, where's your dad?"

"Right here," a soft voice replied. A sama-staged Bishonen stepped out of the forest behind the Warlord of Corruption. He looked absolutely deadly and completely filled with anger; which wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for the katana in his hands. A Sage and a Ryo flanked him, both of them in full armor with equally deadly expressions.

Eliora felt as though her eyes were going to pop out of her head. Cale, for his part, realized he was outnumbered and melted back into the shadows of the forest.

~*~

To make up for previous chapters as well as this one, here's a Bishi-Dex:

Elrond, Legolas & Aragorn – LOTR

Yue – Cardcaptor Sakura

Cale/Yuli/Ryo/Sage – Ronin Warriors

Spike – Buffy

Link – Legend of Zelda

Riddick – Chronicles of Riddick/Pitch Black

Leo – Charmed

Clark(s) – Tom Welling, Dean Cain, Christopher Reeve, George Reeves

And I think that's it. R&R if you would!!


	5. Chapter 5

Shini: Helloooo! I'm baack for the fifth chapter! I'm sorry it took me so long. I hit a bad spot midway through and wondered if I was losing direction. But I had an idea and here we are!!! Thank you to both of my wonderful reviewers PeaceLoveOcelot and Lady Demoonica Darkmoon!!!

Disclaimer: I STILL only own the trainers. Nothing else belongs to me. The story is a seed that was planted in my head by Songwind's story and the PD spheres are from Demoonica's lovely stories!!!

~*~

Chapter 5

~*~

Eliora sat down, although her wide eyes could not help but follow Sage's every move. Noticing this, Clark nudged her gently to get her attention off of the armored blond. Legolas was hiding a smile; her fascination with the other Bishonen's hair was rather obvious. Sage himself had probably realized the potential danger his hair was in, for he'd strategically placed himself so that Ryo was between him and the trainer. Blinking, she glanced at Clark, who motioned to the Sama Yuli. With his son safe in his arms, the Sama was studying her, curiosity in his gaze.

"You didn't attempt to catch my son, even when you realized who he was." As though he thought this statement might lead her to attempt such a foolish feat, he handed his son off to Ryo, who took off into the forest.

"Well, no. The rules said you can't catch a chibi. Besides, I was rather distracted by the fact that there was a Cale with _pink hair_ standing in front of me. I mean _pink hair_! Gawking at such a spectacle is far more important than catching and traumatizing a child." Eliora couldn't help but grin. "Please try not to think too badly of me, but could you give Cale hell for me?"

Yuli looked rather surprised. "I…thank you for your kindness." Then he grinned in answer. "Oh yes, we won't let him live this down." Standing, he offered the trainer his hand and helped her up when she took it. "If you'd like, we can help you get out of here. There are a couple of Talpas roaming this area and we don't want anyone to get caught in the middle of a battle."

Eliora glanced at her Bishie and shook her head. "If you'd just point us in the direction of the trainer city, I'd appreciate that."

Yuli nodded. "There's a path about a mile north of here, find that and follow it west, you'll find your city. Good luck, trainer Eliora!" With a wave, he and Sage disappeared.

Eliora sighed, almost disappointed; one of Clark's eyebrows rose. "Disappointed that you didn't get to maul poor Sage's head?" When she nodded, he rolled his eyes. "You can hunt after we've gotten a hotel room."

Immediately the trainer brightened at the thought. "C'mon guys, we need to get to that hotel so that I can maul Sage's head!" She bounced off in a randomly chosen direction.

Legolas caught her mid-bounce and turned her around. "North is this way, dear trainer."

Eliora flushed. "Well, of course it is….I used to be so very good at being a human compass," She mumbled and set off. As she passed Yue, she caught his sleeve and very gently tugged him into Clark's usual spot at her side. "You may find me to be a nuisance, Yue, but I generally like you and I thought it'd be nice to walk with you. You don't have to talk if you don't like, I'll chatter about things for us both."

Legolas and Clark fell into step behind the teen and the angel, who looked rather flustered himself; both elf and kryptonian were obviously amused.

~*~

By the time they reached the human city, Eliora had forgotten all about mauling Sage in favor of getting Yue to open up. She'd pestered him with question after question, fairly driving the poor angelic being into the skies just to escape her curiosity. Yue, however, had been good and kept himself from fleeing her questions; instead he had answered them as politely as possible. He found it interesting that she never pressed him for personal questions, just asked him all sorts of other things like how he maintained his hair and if he got stronger with the full moon.

Clark and Legolas had fallen into deep discussion by the time they'd arrived at Warrior's Edge, the town they would be staying at. It was a conversation that held the words 'missing' and 'female' in it, although Eliora hadn't really been paying enough attention to catch if the two words were connected or not. Although she had caught one or two glances aimed at her from the two of them. Idly, she'd wondered if they were planning on kidnapping her, which led her to asking Yue if it was possible for Bishie to kidnap their trainer. He'd stared at her in baffled amazement, clearly wondering where she got such outlandish ideas.

Once they reached the gates, Eliora released Yue from her almost-completely unwavering attention in order to cheer. However, the group was stopped by a guard and the trainer was asked to show him her dex. In some confusion she did as he asked, watching while he asked the device several things. Satisfied by the machine's answers, he returned the dex and then waved them through.

"I wonder what that was about..?" Eliora murmured, not noticing the alarm in Clark's eyes, nor the fact that all of her Bishie had moved closer to her, almost protective.

"Probably nothing," Legolas reassured her, although it sounded as though he wasn't trying to just reassure _her_. "In any case, we have need of a hotel and some food."

Eliora stopped suddenly, the Bishonen all turned to her expectantly. "Gym…There's a gym. Do you guys wanna go and see what the gyms are all about? I remember Liz saying something about money and gyms, or was it money and battles? Whichever it was, if we're going to live on our own and rent rooms at hotels and buy new clothes and things, we're going to need to make money." She paused, lost in thought. "One of those monster-chip things might not be so bad either, Liz mentioned that the reason she wanted one was so she could make money without getting a job. Dunno how decent the money is…"

Yue's hand found her elbow and he guided her into walking again. "Hotel first, little trainer. Once we have somewhere to stay, we can go to the gym, does that sound acceptable?"

"Yes, of course." She grinned at the angel; then her gaze was caught by something and her jaw dropped. "Oh…Could it possibly be?" She would have stopped to gawk if it weren't for Yue. The Bishie who'd caught her attention looked bored, although it could have been irritation. "Y-Yue, Yue…" She tugged on the angel's sleeve, as though she didn't already have his attention, her gaze busy elsewhere. "It's _him_," her voice fell to an awed whisper. "That's _Alzeid_..."

Clark chuckled softly, Legolas caught his trainer's other elbow amusement sparkling in his gaze, and even the corners of Yue's lips were turned upward. Realizing she was staring, Eliora dropped her gaze, feeling her face heat up. She felt extremely rude for staring at the albino as she had. Staring at the ground just before her feet, she let her Bishie guide her to a hotel of their choosing, losing herself in her thoughts.

Clark tapped Eliora on the head when they stopped at the counter of the Royal Saga Hotel. The girl behind the counter smiled warmly, waiting patiently while the teen fumbled with her cargos and pulled out her dex. "I don't know how much is-"

Before she could finish, her dex was returned to her, followed by a card key. "Don't worry about it. Have a nice day!"

Eliora stared at the girl for a moment in surprise, but let Clark lead her away anyway. On the second floor, they found their room at the end of the hall. As soon as the door opened, Eliora was across the room, taking off her backpack and rolling her shoulders.

"Sorry, but I want a shower desperately and I think you guys might appreciate showers too." She sifted through the capsules on the backpack's panel until she found the one Liz had forced her to fill with clothing for herself. "Since this is the first town I've hit since catching Legolas and Yue, you two will have to borrow spare changes of Clark's clothes until I can get you some stuff of your own." She paused and then laughed. "Which means you'll be in modern clothing. Oh, how nice a thought that is. I'll be right back."

Before any of the guys could say anything, she'd escaped into the bathroom. Clark gestured for the other two to take seats on the couch and turned on the TV.

~*~

An hour later, everyone was freshly showered and dressed in new clothes. Eliora was desperately wishing she had a camera. All three of her Bishie were dressed in dress shirts and jeans, although Legolas appeared to be slightly uncomfortable. Yue, on the other hand, did not appear to care one way or the other what he was wearing as long as it fit the suitable requirements for walking around in public. He was busy drying out his hair still and Eliora was staring at him in rapt fascination, her own wet curls forgotten.

Yue paused, noting that he was being watched. "Eliora…it's really no different from yours."

"Maybe, but yours is prettier."

He shook his head and, with a sigh of resignation, gestured her over to him. She was at his side in less than a second, making Clark look up, blue eyes dark with curiosity. He forgot about the television, his attention devoured by the sight of Yue willingly allowing Eliora to touch his hair. Legolas was still busy with his own length of hair, although he was able to witness the sight via the mirror in the bathroom.

The teen delicately ran her hands through the impossibly long strands of pure white hair, her mind reveling at the silken texture. Glancing up at the angel, she smiled. "Thank you. Ever since I first saw you in the Cardcaptor Sakura manga when I was ten, I've wanted to touch your hair." She glanced at the clock and released his long locks. "I'd best let you be so that I can finish pulling my hair back to go out."

Now that her curiosity had been sated, she returned to brushing her curls out. Once she was sure they were as tangle free as they were going to get, she pulled them up into a loose bun, ignoring any strands that fell free. Patting the pockets of her cargos, she made sure she had everything she'd need. Noting that she was ready, her Bishie gathered themselves and Legolas opened the door.

On the way out, Yue grabbed the card key that Eliora had forgotten and pocketed it before closing the door behind him. The trainer led the way to the street and then paused, studying both directions.

"I…really don't know which-" She started and then pointed. "There it is! That big building over there must be the gym…I hope."

They set off again, with Clark guiding Eliora towards the gym. She was once more distracted by the surrounding sights of Bishie and trainers. Unnoticed to her, the boys kept their strides short to match hers and kept themselves close to her without over-crowding her. Although when they reached the gym, she broke free to run up to the receptionist's desk.

"This might sound really…unintelligent, but bear with me. We can battle other trainers and their Bishie here, right? And we can train?" Eliora studied the boy, who nodded in answer to each question.

"Yes, in fact we have a couple of trainers here too. Training is to your right and the battle arena is to the left." He turned back to the computer in front of him; his Mia was typing away on her own laptop which left Eliora to wonder if they were secretly IMing one another.

Once they reached the first of several training rooms, Eliora stepped aside and gestured her Bishie on.

~*~

They ended up spending a week in town, the boys training while Eliora ran around making sure they had clothing for Legolas and Yue in future and enough supplies to last them if they got lost. Finally, she picked up a monster chip and, instead of fighting any trainers, dragged her Bishonen back out into the wilds of the Ronin Warrior territory. Part of her determination was possibly due to the fact that she had not seen Alzeid again during the long stay at Warrior's Edge. Although, throughout their stay one of her Bishie had always been with her, whether or not she approved of such measures. When she'd first protested, all three males had dug their feet into the floor and refused to budge until she agreed. They ended doing shifts so that they could all get in equal amounts of time training.

Now that they were back in the darkened forest, Eliora seemed to be pleased again. "What if I catch another archer? Like Rowen for example." She smiled at the thought.

"You forget that although Yue and I are capable archers, we are both quite capable of other feats. Out of curiosity, I must inquire, why did you not challenge any of the available trainers during our stay at Warrior's Edge?" Legolas kept pace with her quite easily, although his eyes were on the surrounding forestry.

"I thought you guys would appreciate some training and I thought you might like to be asked if you wanted to fight rather than just told to do so." Eliora skipped off the path and returned with a sunflower.

"That was kind of you, although I doubt any of us would have protested a fight. Not that I'm saying the three of us thirst for blood, either. We may not be the types to rush headlong into battles, but even we enjoy a good fight." Legolas frowned. "In any case, were your plans to use the monster chip to gain money for the time being?"

Eliora nodded. "Although another trainer in line said that the currency you gain does not always fit the credits used by trainers. So I'm going to have to catch someone capable of figuring this stuff out. Like Rowen…After all, we're kind of too far from any future-like territory. Although I'd love a Doctor…"

Clark and Yue had been resting in their bish-balls when with a flood of red light they both appeared. And not a moment too soon, for barely a second later the forest around them was on fire. Laughter filled the smoke-darkened air. Arrows came flying from every direction.

Clark reached for Eliora, but she was…gone. Alarm shot through him. Before he went into full-panic mode, he tapped Yue on the shoulder. The angel nodded, brilliant silver eyes focused on the spot Eliora had been standing on, and then with a sweep of his wings he was rising. Legolas had pulled out his sword and was batting away as many arrows as he could. Clark turned to him just as a well-aimed arrow slipped past the elf's sword and buried itself deep into his chest. With a cry, he fell.

Clark caught the blond, and swept his gaze over the area, searching for a smaller form amongst the strangely shaped figures surrounding him. When nothing came into focus, the panic set in, filling his chest with icy water.

"ELIORA!!" Her name was a roar of rage and fear, but there was no answering cry.

However, a voice did rise in answer. Yue. Clark hoisted Legolas into his arms and took off in the direction of the cry. Glancing up, he used his x-ray vision to spot the angel falling out of the sky, being dragged by chains. Passing an armored figure holding the end of a chain, he hit the figure only to find…nothing inside the armor.

"What the-?"

"YAHOOO!!! Hey, Cye, there's an entire group over here! I think Talpa's nearby!" An excited voice rose above the soft clanking of armor and then an orange-armored figure flung itself into another of the empty suits of armor.

Another figure followed. At that moment, Clark was distracted by Legolas who pulled free of his supportive grip and pulled out his bow. Nocking an arrow and ignoring any agony he might be in, he took aim and released. Clark whirled and his fist connected with another suit just as Yue appeared beside him out of thin air. The angel appeared to be a little worse for wear, one of his wings was bleeding pretty badly and his throat was beginning to bruise.

With a wave of his hand, a suit of armor thirty yards away went flying and Clark's eyes widened. Yue barely spared the kryptonian a glance, eying the orange and blue armored figures as they tore through several groups of armors at once. Legolas sent another suit toppling and turned to his companions.

"If we want to have any hope of finding Eliora, or getting medical attention, we need to ask those two for help." His brown eyes were dark with anger and pain, and his tone was not open for argument.

With a nod, Clark was about to turn to go after the two figures when Yue grabbed both the elf and the kryptonian. The next instant they were amidst the heat of another battle.

"Kento! Watch who you're attacking!" The british voice rang out strong and clear, if a bit annoyed.

"Sorry, buddy! I'm enjoying myself too much!" The orange armored boy grinned, slamming his fist through the helmet of an empty suit as though to prove his statement.

The newly-dubbed Cye turned and took note of the trio of Bishonen. A frown pulled his lips down and he pointed at them with his trident. "You three look a little beaten."

"We approached only to ask for help," Legolas paused and then sighed wearily. "To put it simply our trainer is…missing. She went missing after we were attacked by empty suits of armor."

Cye pulled his trident back and leaned it against his shoulder. "Kento, it looks like we've got a situation." He turned to the three, studying them with some concern, and then his eyes widened. "You wouldn't happen to be the three that helped our Yuli's son would you? He was being chased by a pink haired Cale."

Clark nodded. "That would be us."

Kento finally joined them, his expression dark. "Didn't Ryo warn you about the roaming Talpas? We've been searching for one in particular…If anything, these suits probably appeared because of him. So..my guess is that you're missing trainer was taken by him."

Before the trio could react, Cye glared at Kento. Returning his gaze to the little group, he sized them up. "Two of your party are injured. I doubt Talpa would do anythi-"

"If I know Talpa, he'll torture her," Kento interrupted; Cye glared at him again. "What?!?! Cye, they deserve to know at least that much. Not that they can do anything about it just yet. Come on, guys, we'll get you patched up at Rowen's place. And then the _five_ of us, as a _team-_"he shot Cye a look-"will help you locate and save your damsel in distress. I doubt the others will mind a good, old-fashioned hunt. We haven't had one in a long while."

Clark looked ready to argue, but Legolas, noticing this, fell against him in a sudden show of weakness. Immediately concern replaced the boiling rage in Clark's eyes. So, defeated, the little trio followed the two Ronins towards a safe haven.

~*~

Bishidex:

The one and only Alzeid – DAZZLE! (Go read it! Right now!)

Mia – Ronin Warriors

Cye & Kento – Ronin Warriors

Empty suits of armor – Ronin Warriors

Talpa – Ronin Warriors


	6. Chapter 6

Shini: So chapter number six is now up!!! Aren't you just so proud of me? Anyway, this chapter jumps from following one group to following another group several times, so be forewarned.

Disclaimer: I only own Eliora in this chapter. Everyone and everything else belongs to their respective owners. I also own the plot...

~*~

Chapter Six

~*~

"A trainer? What the hell is a trainer doing here?" A soft voice rang in a dark area; the voice was filled with anger.

There was a rustling next to the voice. "I don't know, but she's hurt pretty badly. The suits did a number on her before throwing her with us."

Eliora groaned and both of the figures stilled. Everything _hurt_! Had she been hit by a semi or something? She shifted and pushed herself up…well she would have except that her left arm gave out with a scream of agony. In response, the teen hissed and would have returned to the cold floor if not for a warm arm that wrapped itself around her.

"Careful…Your arm is weak right now." The owner of the voice pulled her into his lap, cradling her small, aching form against his chest as a father might hold his child. Well, she was small enough to fit the child part, she supposed.

Now in a more comfortable position, she examined her arm in what little light a nearby torch shed. A blood stained piece of cloth was wrapped tightly around her upper arm and her wrist was a motley blue-green-purple in color. That explained one thing. While it was quiet, she figured it'd be best to do a quick run down of her body. She could feel her legs and move them, proving she wasn't paralyzed, but one felt like it had been twisted pretty badly…Her ribcage felt as though it had been pummeled with a baseball bat, making it painful to breath and even more painful to touch the skin. The entire right side of her face…well she didn't want to know but she had a feeling it was as badly bruised as her abdomen; she couldn't even register sight out of her right eye. To top it off her back felt as though a cat had raked its nails along the length of her spine several times and her hair was sticky with what she guessed was blood.

Now that she knew she looked like an abused ragdoll, she refocused her attention on the two figures with her. They seemed rather whole compared to her. "Are you two alright? Did they hurt you?" Concern bled into her tone and she shifted, reaching for the figure further away.

Warm hands caught hers. "We're both fine. A little bruised, but nothing horrible. It looks like they weren't as careful with you…You're a trainer, right?" He gestured to her belt and released her hands.

Eliora gasped and reached for her bish-balls. "Yeah, I…" She trailed off as she realized that all of her bish-balls were empty, tensing; after a moment she relaxed. "Of course…it would hurt if they were beyond the three-mile limit, right? So, they can't be horribly far away."

The taller figure settled against the wall. "Good. My own trainer is somewhere nearby. With luck, she might run into your Bishie."

Eliora leaned forward, peering at him with her one good eye. "Your trainer….Vash?" She smiled and offered her uninjured hand. "I'm Eliora, it's a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance."

Vash, although tense and obviously unhappy, gently took her hand and very carefully shook it. "The pleasure is mine, Eliora. My trainer is probably about as frantic as your Bishie are."

The other figure shifted under Eliora and her attention immediately shifted to him. "Do you share Vash's trainer?"

The male raised an eyebrow. "No. I'm free as the wind-"

"Nuriko!" She couldn't help but interrupt him in surprise. "But…you…The Fushigi Yugi territory is…somewhere not here."

He chuckled. "Yes, it's a good distance from here. I was traveling…on business when I happened to run into Talpa. Although I must say I'm glad I was captured." The girl in his lap cocked her head in confusion. "My capture allowed another trainer and his Bishoujo to escape, so it was a good thing." Nuriko paused, but continued after a mere moment's hesitation. "We haven't figured out why he's kidnapping people at random. My bet is on insanity, although Vash seems to think it's a lot darker than that."

Vash's gaze was dark when it fell upon Eliora. "He was aiming for my trainer. I was only lucky enough to get in the way. Although I doubt she's particularly happy about that…" Suddenly he pouted, finally revealing the personality Eliora knew best. "I just hope she still has my donuts."

Eliora couldn't help but giggle, as much as it hurt to do so. Her laughter was cut short as pain flared, but she ignored it and instead turned back to Nuriko. "I don't mean to offend, but why are you being so kind to me? Aren't you worried I'll throw a ball at you?"

"It's a risk I'm willing to take. I was very close to the local Mitsukake in my town. I'm no healer, but if I can make you more comfortable, I'm willing to do it. Besides, you are far too cold…most likely due to blood loss." Nuriko tucked her in against his chest. To Eliora's surprise, Vash took off his coat and draped it over her.

"You didn't have to-"

"Don't worry about it. Colleen would be ashamed of me if I didn't offer any help at all." Vash settled back against the wall.

Eliora studied Vash and then Nuriko. "Talpa's walls must be pretty tough if neither of you guys can break free."

"He's put up some sort of barrier to keep us in," Nuriko replied quietly.

Eliora fell silent and closed her good eye, willing enough to put her trust in Vash and Nuriko for the moment. Not that there was much else she could do. Though she hadn't noticed it before, with Nuriko's mentioning of it she could feel herself getting colder as well, even with the Suzaku seishi's body heat and Vash's coat.

~*~

Clark carefully helped Legolas over to a chair. The elf had refused to be carried, although he had consented to Clark's help. Now settled in a chair, Legolas leaned back, his tunic was stained with his blood, although it was leaving him far more slowly than if he'd pulled the arrow out. Cye had said something about an armor called Halo and had left the room. Yue had stubbornly settled against a wall and Clark was pacing the room worriedly. Kento had found some food in the kitchen and was munching on it since he knew better than to offer any to the three Bishie.

Rowen's house appeared to be in the middle of nowhere. Probably due to the fact that he and the others of his 'team' were scouts. His house was the current headquarters of the five men, although it appeared to be rather empty at the moment. While he waited, Legolas looked around, noting the warm brown and green color scheme. He was interrupted from his examination of the room by Cye's return. He was dragging the Sage that had escaped head mauling earlier that week.

Sage took one look at Yue and Legolas and frowned. "My power isn't perfect, Cye."

"I understand, but do what you can. They were attacked by Lord Insanity. Their trainer was taken." Cye left the blond in order to snatch some food from his longtime friend, Kento.

Sage took a seat in front of Legolas. "Hold still…" The elf forced himself to remain relaxed as the young man took hold of the arrow and pulled it out. Staunching the blood flow with his hands, Legolas was surprised to feel the blood slowly stop. He blinked at the hands over his chest and then focused on the form before him.

When Sage finally pulled his hands away, there was nothing to mark the injury that had once marred the elf's chest. The bearer of Halo stood and moved to Yue. "May I?"

The angel reluctantly extended his injured wing for the blond to inspect. After several moments, Sage located the exact area of injury and placed his hands over it. Within a moment, the wing was whole again, although it was still stained crimson. That done, he reached up and carefully wrapped his hands around Yue's throat before the guardian could protest. When he stepped away, the bruising was gone.

Clark was staring at Sage. "I admit I don't know the Ronin Warrior territory, but in all the things Eliora told us, she never mentioned that any of you were healers."

"I have unusual parentage, to say the least. My mother was a healer in her home territory. Because I'm not her, my ability to heal does not always work." He did not elaborate on who his mother was, so no one present pressed him.

Legolas stood, straightening his blood-stained tunic; if he wished for a fresh change of clothes, he said nothing. "Not to be rude, but I worry for Eliora's safety. When might we leave to return her into proper care?"

Cye turned around; he'd moved to stare out a window earlier. "We're merely waiting for Rowen and Ryo to return. Then we can go. It's better to go with a complete team than with two fractured groups."

The elf accepted this, although he took a step closer to the door; when he received strange looks from the Ronins, his gaze turned to Clark and Yue. "She is on the edge of the three mile limit. It makes me uneasy."

That was when the door burst open and two males rushed in, one in dark blue armor and the other in red, between them was a young woman. Her black hair was rather mussed and her glasses perched precariously on the end of her nose. When she was released, the girl pushed her glasses back up to a more comfortable perch before seeming to shrink in on herself.

"This girl's missing a Bishounen. One Vash from the Trigun territory." Rowen told the others.

Ryo was staring at Eliora's boys. "Don't tell me your trainer is missing?" When they nodded, he groaned and threw his hands into the air. "I _told_ you to be careful! That's the fourth trainer in the last two weeks!" His eyes darkened, his voice became bitter. "The last trainer we managed to _rescue_ was sent back to Warrior's Edge in a body bag."

Clark took a step toward the slightly shorter male. "Eliora will not be dead." His words came out as more of a threat than a statement, but Ryo didn't react at all angrily.

The girl who'd been dragged in by the two Ronins finally spoke up. "Why is this Talpa attacking trainers?"

Rowen turned to her. "We don't know. We were assigned the task of keeping an eye on him last year…About six months ago he went insane and started kidnapping various trainers. Some of them escaped, some of them died. All of them were badly beaten. We don't know why…Mia's been working away at her PC to figure out what the pattern is, if it exists. So far, all she's divulged it that he aims to harm only the trainers."

At this Clark was headed for the door, closely followed by Legolas. Yue was already outside and spreading his wings in preparation. The Ronins glanced at each other and then Kento hoisted the lone trainer into his arms and followed his team mates as they went after the three Bishounen. They knew better to stop the trio, so instead they followed them. If anything three Bishie without their trainer might be their best bet at finally catching Talpa and putting an end to him.

~*~

It took them about an hour to locate Talpa's base of operations. During that time the trainer whose Vash was missing introduced herself as Colleen. The males had all sort of mumbled a reply, naming themselves for her benefit, just in case she didn't know who they were. What the Ronins found very appealing about the girl was that during the hour of travel, she had not once attempted to capture any of the five of them. Most likely this was due to the fact that she knew that without them there would be no organized rescue team. Still, they appreciated her respect.

To everyone's surprise Talpa's base of operations was…a cottage. Sweet and cozy in appearance, it hid the evil taking place in the roughly made dungeon underneath it. Kento carefully set Colleen down gestured her behind him. Ryo had earlier asked her to keep any other Bishie she might have inside their balls unless she needed them for protection.

The group of nine studied the unassuming cottage quietly. Clark looked ready to rip his way through the stone walls to find his trainer, but he kept himself still and waited for Ryo's signal. Ryo stepped forward alone and tested the doorknob, finding the door unlocked, he carefully pushed the portal open. Wildfire waited a long moment, wondering if they'd be attacked, but nothing happened. So he gestured the others forward and stepped into the cottage.

It wasn't until Colleen, the last of their group, stepped into the small building that all hell broke loose. Huge arms sprouted out of the wall behind her and reached for the trainer, Clark was immediately there and in the way. Although he wasn't sure whether he should hit the hand…however when others began appearing and the Ronins took off running in the direction of another door, he gave up and grabbed Colleen before following them. When the arms continued to snatch the nimble figures they disappeared, but were quickly replaced by suits…Or so they thought.

The eight Bishounen circled themselves around Colleen and fought off the onslaught. They thought they were getting the upper hand when the giant arms made a comeback. Legolas was grabbed and thrown amongst a group of suits that all turned on him. Clark immediately broke formation to go to his companion's aid, not that Legolas appeared to need it. The elf was far faster than the suits and was slicing them up with his sword before they could hit him with their spears. That didn't stop Clark from beating his way to the elf.

Yue, meanwhile and taken to the sky and began shooting energy arrows, taking out suits of armor that got too close to the one trainer in their midst. Kento was holding his own while keeping Colleen protected when he was crushed under one of the giant hands. The trainer responded to the new threat by releasing her other two Bishie, knowing that extra fighters might actually turn the tides. Aoki and Karen took one look at the situation and backed their trainer into a corner so that they could better protect her while turning the full power of their respective elements, wind and fire, on the suits of armor. Colleen ended up picking up a discarded spear and hitting any suit or hand that got too close to her Bishie.

The entire group had been scattered, but Eliora's Bishounen were all forcing their way towards the door. Clark was just reaching for the handle when another suit rammed into him. Irritation flashed across his face and he turned back around, one glance around the room with the use of his heat vision and a good half of the empty suits of armor began to melt. Leaving the Ronins to take care of the other half, the kryptonian disappeared through the door. Legolas sliced his way after Clark and only turned around when Yue dropped down to join him in slipping through the door.

There were two different options on the other side of the thick wooden portal. One way went down and the other was a hallway ending in a pair of large double doors. How the hallway fit in the cottage was not something any of the three males wanted to dwell on. In silent agreement they started down the stairs, yet were surprised to find the steps littered with pieces of armor. Immediately Legolas, who'd taken the front, slowed down to a more cautious speed, listening carefully for noises from further below.

There was a shout and then something further below exploded.

~*~

Colleen blinked at the surrounding fight. There were four figures missing from the group that had originally entered the cottage. She would bet all of her money that three of the boys had left to retrieve their trainer. The fourth figure…his red armor had changed to white and he'd left as well. Dimly, she could hear another battle taking place in another room; although how the tiny cottage could have yet another room was beyond her. The room she was in now took up the entirety of the space the outside walls indicated existed.

She tapped Aoki on the shoulder and he turned to her. "I'm going to go find Vash, stay here and help the Ronins, alright?"

"Of course…But be careful, Colleen." He didn't look entirely enthusiastic about the idea of her going off by herself, but he hoped she'd run into the other three Bishounen who'd left as a group.

A suit came running at them and Aoki returned to the battle at hand, making his way over to the door with Colleen to ensure that she wasn't attacked. She smiled at him gratefully and disappeared; immediately a giant arm took a swing at him and Aoki pushed away from the wall.

Colleen studied the two different options and decided to follow the stairs leading down. She didn't know Talpa particularly well, but she could see that a pair of double doors had been blown off their hinges at the end of the second option. Through those doors was a huge wall within which a fierce battle was taking place. She started down the steps with only the hope that she'd find Vash soon enough.

At the end of the steps she found Eliora's Bishounen; the three of them were staring at something across the room in shock. She followed their gazes to find a white haired young man standing in front of a huge pile of rubble. He appeared to be incredibly irritated. The fact that there was a gun in one of his hands kept her from doing anything other than scanning the room. It was small and there were no cells…which left Colleen with the idea that the pile of rubble had been the sole holding area and thus her Vash must be buried alive.

~*~

Eliora couldn't figure out why she wasn't dead. She'd remembered a flash of white hair before the room had seemed to explode. Huge rocks had come crashing down from the ceiling. And then…She struggled and managed to recall movement, Vash's voice raised in surprise. She shifted and groaned when the bruised half of her face pressed against a rock.

"It's alright…" A soft, soft voice murmured into her ear. That's when Eliora realized that there was someone over her…protecting her from the fallen debris.

"N-Nuriko? But where's Vash?" She widened her eye, not that it helped in the pitch black of the closed off space. "And why does this feel like a remake of a Fushigi Yugi scene?"

Nuriko chuckled softly. "That's because it is a remake of a Fushigi Yugi scene…well, not really. I'm a lot stronger than Tamahome and my endurance is far higher. As for Vash…I shoved him into the corner so he wouldn't get crushed. I felt he'd have a better chance in a smaller area of space. Don't worry about him, he's pretty tough."

"I'm sorry you had to protect me Nuriko…Are you hurt? I'll foot the medical bill-"

"Relax, Eliora. I'm fine; the most I've got to worry about is a bruised back. Don't apologize, I really don't mind, besides I think I can get us out of this bind. Just hold still." Nuriko shifted above her. What she couldn't see was that he was lifting one hand and shoving one particularly large piece of debris away from their heads with it.

The rock over and around them trembled.

~*~

Noticing that the rubble was trembling, Clark rushed over and began pulling huge pieces away and setting them aside. Colleen immediately joined him although the pieces she could handle pulling out where considerably smaller. Legolas, meanwhile, had nocked an arrow and had it trained on the white haired Bishounen. In reply, the unnamed male had pointed the muzzle of his gun at the elf. The two were at a standstill. Yue sidled around Legolas and the other fellow to join Clark.

Clark had just unearthed a dazed Vash when another form entered the small room. She took one look around the room and sighed. A blond Heero stepped around the trainer and pulled out his own gun, although he was stopped from taking any action by the brunette.

Before she could say anything several rather large pieces of rubble shifted and Nuriko revealed himself. Spotting his trainer, Clark was immediately at the seishi's side. Very, very carefully, the kryptonian picked up Eliora, who's one eye widened when it fell on Mr. White Hair. Colleen was making sure her Vash was as uninjured as it was possible for him to be.

The newly arrived trainer frowned. "Now we officially have a case, Heero. Go and make sure no one kills Talpa." The Bishounen turned and disappeared back up the stairs; the young woman's gaze was focused solely on Eliora. "I'd like all of you to come with me."

~*~

Shini: Colleen is the first trainer whom is not mine to make an appearance. Now, I have two questions for everyone. Can anyone name Mr. White Hair? And can anyone name the trainer at the end?

By the way, I wanted to apologize if Vash seems out of character. I remember his capability of being very serious in situations like the one above. Although I did give everyone a glimpse of normal Vash!!! One last thing, I promise to get out of the RW territory in the next chapter! Maybe even without any RW characters…Which is a shock for me to say, but I have other plans right now.

Bishi-Dex:

Aoki & Karen – X/1999

Vash – Trigun

Nuriko & Tamahome – Fushigi Yugi

Heero – Gundam Wing

Mr. White Hair - ????


	7. Chapter 7

Shini: Welcome one and all! Thank you to my reviewers: LDD, Peace and Nyx! I don't really have much to say here, but…On with the story then!

Disclaimer: We've gone through this. I still only own Eliora.

~*~

Chapter 7

~*~

Eliora opened her eyes and found sunlight. She couldn't help but smile, feeling the sun's warm rays caressing her skin. Turning, her gaze fell upon Clark, asleep in a chair. Someone had kindly covered him with a blanket. He had refused to move for the last three days, she remembered. Oh yes, she remembered bits and pieces, she'd woven in and out of consciousness after _that day_. In fact, the last thing she remembered was Clark's worried face before all had faded to black. And now, here she was in a hospital. The petite teen slowly sat up, wincing when her head began throbbing. Yet, to her surprise, several of her more serious injuries, like the cracked ribs and the bleeding arm…were gone.

To her utter surprise, her legs felt fine and healthy as well. In fact, other than the headache, she felt as good as new, all things considered. She studied her pale wrist, wondering where the bruise had run off to; surely it hadn't just up and left her. Not that she had wanted it to stay, but nonetheless it was her bruise and the fact that it was missing disturbed her greatly.

Finally, she refocused and found that the hand attached to the once-bruised wrist was rather heavier than it should be. Attached to that hand was another hand. This hand led back to an arm, then a shoulder…And there, there was a head resting on her mattress, golden locks spilling around the finely featured face. The girl's gaze jumped from the elf, to her hand, to Clark in utter confusion.

"They were really worried…"

Eliora jumped and turned to find the familiar figures. Piercing silver eyes studied her; there was no hint of concern or fear in that gaze. After a moment, Yue sighed and left the window he'd been staring out of to take a seat in another chair next to her bed.

"I didn't mean to cause anyone problems," she murmured softly in her own defense.

The angel rolled his eyes in an almost comical gesture. "You didn't have to mean anything…They-I mean…" He frowned. "Well, I…didn't…I was fine." He stopped there, but it was alright; Eliora understood that in Yue-speak he'd been worried too.

She reached out for his hand and smiled when he took it. "I promise it won't happen again."

"It had best not," Yue fairly growled; as though catching himself he closed his eyes, feigning exhaustion. "Call if you need me." There was a flash of red light and then Yue was gone, returned to his ball.

That's when Eliora realized why things felt..off. Her belt was on the other side of the room. Displeased with this discovery, she was about to climb out of bed when she remembered that Legolas had taken ownership of her hand. That is when an unfamiliar familiar trainer with a very familiar Vash walked in. The little brunette didn't notice immediately, too busy was she glaring at her belt. Vash chuckled and picked up the belt. He practically skipped over to the bed and handed it to her.

"Colleen had my donuts when we left that horrible place! And she's bought me tons more!" He sounded just like a child, so happy with his gifts.

Eliora smiled happily up at the tall blond and cradled her belt with her free hand. "I'm happy for you, Vash!" She turned to his trainer. "Colleen wasn't it? Could you tell me what happened after I…ummm…lost consciousness?"

Colleen looked rather startled that the younger trainer had remembered her name; Vash had told her enough of what had gone on in the dungeon that she knew Eliora knew that Vash belonged to one Colleen. She just hadn't expected the girl to piece it together so very quickly. "Of course….Demoonica Darkmoon arrived just before Nuriko managed to push enough rubble aside to get you both out. She rounded everyone up, the Ronins, Talpa, myself and Vash, Nuriko, your Bishounen and you…And the unfamiliar young man.

"She had what looked like a plane waiting outside and she gave everyone a ride to Warrior's Edge, where Clark rushed you to the hospital. Miss Darkmoon has had everyone else, except Talpa who's been contained, stay at the same hotel so she can keep an eye on us all. I don't really know how, but she's managed to protect the two uncaught Bishounen from other trainers and she's been taking statements from everyone. She hasn't explained what exactly is going on, but…as far as I know the only statement she needs now is yours." Colleen had turned a lovely shade of crimson by the time she finished explaining.

Eliora nodded. "I see, thank you…" She had managed to free her hand from Legolas's and was no running her fingers through his soft hair. "Has…Has Nuriko left?"

"Nope," Vash answered cheerily, his trainer didn't look like she could handle much more communication at that very moment. "Excuse Colleen, she's a little shy. Back to your question. Nobody has been allowed to leave, especially not the guy who seems to have no identity. Well, that's not necessarily true, he won't tell anyone his name and no one's dex can identify him. Which is interesting, he is a Bishounen after all. Must be a relatively new territory. Unfortunately, he also refuses to be caught; he's managed to dodge several balls Demoonica has thrown at him."

"I see…So do you think Demoonica will tell us what's going on when I tell her what I remember?" Eliora didn't notice that Legolas was now fully awake, although he was pretending to be asleep for all he was worth. But Vash noticed, and it was almost too much for him.

"Maybe," the Trigun Bishounen replied lightly, munching on a donut he'd pulled from who-knew-where. "I certainly hope so. Ryo said that Lord Insanity, as the Ronins call him, is the first Talpa to beat and murder trainers. Talpas seem to like wreaking havoc on trainers, not murdering them."

"Lord Insanity, the title appears to be catching. I need everyone out…Okay, the sleeping ones can stay, but you two go off and shop or something." Demoonica had appeared and immediately began shooing Colleen and Vash out of the room.

Colleen fairly bolted, Vash followed after his trainer with a soft chuckle. In reaction, Eliora tapped Clark's bish-ball and he disappeared. Legolas was left alone, so that she could fiddle with his hair. The elf continued to breathe deeply, simulating sleep. Although part of him doubted that he actually fooled Demoonica.

The young woman took the seat Yue had earlier occupied. "Hello, Eliora. I'm-"

"Demoonica, I know." She shrugged in reply to the raised eyebrow. "Lucky guess? You want me to tell you what I remember, right?" When the older trainer nodded, Eliora smiled ruefully. "Alright…are you ready?" Again, Demoonica nodded and so Eliora tapped Legolas's bish-ball. When his prone form was gone, she started her tale. She really didn't want any of her Bishounen to overhear it, even if they were asleep.

~*~

The next day Eliora was allowed to check out of the hospital. As soon as she was outside, she took a deep breath of fresh air and smiled. "Alright, where are we staying?" She turned to Colleen and Demoonica.

"We're staying at the Loving Samurai." Demoonica caught Eliora's raised eyebrows. "No, I really don't understand why the name is so very…strange. No offense guys, but as soon as I resolve Nuriko and Mr. Gunman, I have to go and report. Besides, I have kids to get back to." She grinned, reminiscing. "Ah, the days of the young, spent hunting and sleeping outside. You guys have it easy…Why, I remember when I was your age," she burst into peals of laughter upon sighting the long-suffering expressions on the younger trainers' faces. "Alright, fine, I won't share my wisdom, suit yourselves." Still highly amused, she led the through the hotel. When Eliora headed for the receptionist's desk, Demoonica dragged her away.

"But I need to get a room at least," Eliora protested.

The more experienced girl shook her head. "No you don't. You get to take mine when I leave. I've got you booked for one more night." She leveled a stern gaze upon Eliora's upturned face. "So promise me you'll get another day's rest before heading-Oh god, look at me! I sound like my mom!"

Eliora giggled softly. "I promise…_Mom_."

"Wow, now that takes me back…" Demoonica shook herself and pulled Colleen and Eliora after her into a room at the end of the hall on the first floor.

There, inside were several Bishie, one of which Eliora recognized as the Nuriko who'd saved her life. The look of utter relief on his face upon sight of her took her by surprise. She caught a glimpse of white hair and then she was gawking. Heero…

"Y-You're blond," she stumbled over her own words; the blond almost cracked a smile. "I mean, sorry. That was rude, I didn't mean to offend. I just-"

"No problem," he interrupted smoothly. "Don't worry about it." He glanced at one of the other figures knowingly.

The blond who met his gaze was also all-too-familiar to Eliora. "Sage!" She stopped moving across the room and put her hands behind her back.

Ryo immediately took note of this and set the little tidbit down in the back of his mind. Rowen was…sleeping and Cye and Kento had gotten into an argument about something to do with pancakes and frosting. Eliora didn't interrupt them. There was an angel with blue hair that the young teen didn't recognize and an Inuyasha complete with Kagome. In the corner sat a Riku, he kept a watchful eye on…the flash of white hair she'd caught.

She didn't see Talpa anywhere and turned to ask Demoonica where he was only to find the other trainer already in the process of rounding everyone up. In a matter of moments, Rowen was up, although not completely awake, Cye and Kento were on opposite sides of the room sending venomous glares at one another every once in a while, and everyone else with the exception of Flash-of-White-Hair and Riku had been situated on the bed, the couch or the floor.

Of course that's when a door in the wall adjacent to the wall leading to hall opened and two characters Eliora recognized as being part of X/1999 walked in. They were holding hands and behind them was…Vash. Vash settled next to Colleen and the other, who obviously belonged to Colleen as well, took seats on the floor. More chaos was added when Eliora remembered her own boys and tapped their balls. Legolas simply sat on the floor next to his precious trainer, Clark was forced into Eliora's chair and she took the floor space between his knees. Yue found a spot next to the only other angel in the room.

Finally, when everyone was settled, Demoonica was able to start explaining. "I belong to the Bishi World Safety Department, or BWSD for short, and recently they've been investigating a rash of trainer kidnappings. Now, the Bishi-world has had such problems before, I remember, but this is different. Trainers are reappearing…dead. Thus, a good many of our available agents have been working on figuring out what's going on. No one has been able to locate the masterminds, nor have we yet figured out why exactly trainers are being killed.

"What we do know is that, much like what happened four years ago, Bishie are reappearing in their home territories. But they are all absolutely insane." Several different Bishie reacted to this in different ways, although the most noticeable to Eliora was the light shudder than ran through Clark. "Some of these insane Bishie turn on other trainers and injure, maim or murder them..I believe that Talpa is one such case. I sent him back to BWSD headquarters already and, due to the helpful information the Ronin Warriors and Nuriko have given us, we're going to try to track down other survivors. But if you don't mind, Eliora, I'd like to save your dex number. And yours Colleen.

"To be honest, there was one other case where they found trainers had survived ordeals with an insane Bishoujo, much like Talpa. Within six months, all we found of those trainers were corpses. I would like to make certain the same thing does not happen again." Demoonica eyes were hard and angry, but she smoothed it over with a more peaceful expression. "In any case, the last thing I'd like to resolve before I go are Nuriko and the Mr. Mysterious." What she didn't say was that she'd already made arrangements to drop the Ronins off on the way back to BWSD, however Nuriko had refused such an offer and the other Bishounen had been kind of…unresponsive to anything she tried.

Nuriko stood up. "With all due respect, I'd like to ask permission to join Eliora and her group." Eliora's jaw dropped, but Demoonica merely looked amused; Nuriko smiled lightly at the petite brunette. "If you'll have me, that is."

Numb with surprise and embarrassment, Eliora nodded. Immediately, he stepped over Vash and knelt before her and offered his hand, palm up. Instinctively, she pulled a bish-ball off her belt, pressed the button and then gently touched it to his hand. He disappeared and she stared at the ball, which didn't move. A click filled the silent room and Eliora let him out again. Nuriko looked far too proud of himself, as though it was he who'd caught her and not the other way around. Colleen covered a smile as Eliora turned a brighter shade of crimson and Demoonica was trying her hardest to stifle laughter.

The group began to split up while Demoonica received Colleen and Eliora's dex numbers. Inuyasha and Kagome disappeared, Colleen's X Bishie went back to through the door joining the two separate rooms. With the room less crowded and everyone getting up, Eliora finally got a good look at the Flash-of-White-Hair or whatever nickname he'd adopted most recently.

"Kittypon!" Eliora practically squealed and everyone froze, staring at her as though she'd just grown a second head. And then the trainer did something that those in the room who knew her had never thought she'd do. She glomped the newly dubbed 'Kittypon'.

Kittypon looked incredibly irritated. "I didn't leave one stupid chick just to run into another stupid chick." He didn't even appear to be bothered by the fact that there was a trainer wrapped around his torso.

Clark's eyes were huge, he wasn't even sure he could form coherent sentences. "E-Eliora?"

The girl blinked. "Yes, right. Hold on." Without further ado, she pulled a bish-ball off her belt and before 'Kittypon' could do anything, she tapped him with it and he disappeared. The ball shook violently in her hand for several long moments. Everyone stared. Riku was on his feet, seeming to expect a fight.

Eventually there was a click and the whole room seemed to relax. "Sorry about that, everyone. Oh!" Yue was at Eliora's side in an instant, hands already searching for an injury before any of her other boys had been able to move. She gently brushed his hands aside and pulled out her dex. "I put it on vibrate, it startled me."

Immediately, the angel released a breath that he'd been holding in his fear. "Please, try not to give me a heart attack."

"My apologies, Yue. Thank you for caring." She smiled up at him and then turned to her dex. There was a moment of silence while she went through Nuriko's-who was a Sama apparently-information and pushed 'N' at the ever familiar nickname question.

And then she turned the sound on so everyone could hear the next bit. _"Alzeid. Stage-Sama. Alzeid is an albino who travels on a long journey to get revenge the woman who killed his father. He is one of two clones of his 'father' and seems to be one of the center pieces of a large game masterminded by Kiara of the same territory. He likes cocoa, peaches, sweets, and sleep; he dislikes the morning, baths, alarms, carrots, and green peppers. He tends to pout when people are ignoring him. Nickname?"_

Alzeid looked murderous and was staring at Eliora, his red eyes demanding a 'no' to fall from her lips. The girl took one look at him and smiled evilly. "Yes..Kittypon." As soon as it was registered into his profile, Eliora turned off the dex and put it away; she blinked when she found everyone staring at her in varying degrees of utter shock. "What? Dazzle was my all-time favorite manga back home. I guess it's still picking up publicity since no one could identify him." She wrapped her arms around the albino, who was clutching his gun as though he'd loved to use it. "Isn't he just gorgeous? I've always wanted to meet Alzeid and scold him for being so incompetent."

Alzeid was slowly turning red, and his expression was becoming more and more indignant. "I am _not_ incompetent! That was _him_, you stupid chick!"

Eliora ignored him, but she did release him and turn to Demoonica almost sheepishly. "I-I'm sorry…"

"It's fine, Eliora," the young woman brushed tears of mirth out of her eyes. "Thank you for the show. I'd love to stay, but I really must be going. C'mon Katan." She was already heading for the door; Riku was already in the hall. Katan waved politely and followed his trainer. She stopped at the door to wait for the Ronins.

As they were filing out, Ryo whispered something into Rowen's ear and he nodded enthusiastically. Sage was the last one headed for the door and was shocked beyond reason when his two friends grabbed him and whirled him around before forcing him to lower his head. Ryo gestured to Eliora, who jumped at the chance being offered to her. Sage struggled uselessly, his one visible violet eye huge with horror. Glee filled the brunette as she sank her hands into his lush locks. Within thirty sends, his hair was a complete and utter mess, Eliora stepped back and Sage was released. Horror-filled, the stared first at the trainer and then at his friends indignantly, then he marched out of the room with as much dignity as he could tape together. Ryo and Rowen were cackling when they followed him, although Ryo paused one last time.

"The next time you're in the Ronin Warrior territory, tell the first…Well, the first Ronin you meet that you want to talk to Ryo of Scouting Group Q. I have a surprise waiting for you, Miss Eliora." With that, he was gone and Demoonica was closing the door.

Once Demoonica was gone, Eliora grabbed Clark, Yue and Legolas in a hug. "I'm sorry guys. I'll tie myself to you next time, okay?"

"You don't need to go that far. Besides, it wasn't your fault, if I'd been paying attention you'd never have been hurt." Clark was very obviously beating himself up about it, so when Eliora released them she punched in the arm lightly.

"Don't beat yourself up, I'll do it for you." She smiled up at him and then bounced over to Nuriko and hugged him.

Colleen's Bishoujo had reappeared with a box of donuts. "Here, I figured Vash might be going through withdrawal."

Vash jumped up before Colleen could thank her and accepted the box. "Why thank you! So, when are we heading out, Colleen?"

The shy trainer was quiet for a moment. "I thought I'd ask Eliora if we could travel with her for a whi-"

"Yes, please! That would be wonderful. I mean, my boys are great, but it's always nice to have female company." Eliora beamed at the older girl, who smiled in reply.

With a start, Colleen gestured to her Bishoujo. "This is Karen and the guy you saw with her is Aoki from X. They're happily married." Karen smiled at Eliora, who fluttered her fingers in a rendition of a wave.

"It's a pleasure," Eliora said. "How about we…head away from the Ronin Warrior territory. I'll eventually come back to collect on Ryo's surprise, but…I want to see Tortall or Alasea…I mean the territories…Well, the Tortall territory and The Banned and the Banished territory. Hmm…" She pulled up her map on her dex to consult it. "I heard there's a teleportation device here in Warrior's Edge. Why don't we make use of it and just…go?"

Colleen nodded. "Good idea. I wasn't headed anywhere in particular, so I'll just follow you for now."

The younger trainer grinned. "I promise it won't be boring….Much? Anyway, I'm gonna do some shopping with just the boys. Bonding time, you know?"

"It's no problem; I've already done my shopping, so I was going to go to the gym today." Colleen ushered Vash and Karen back towards her own room.

"Good idea, I'll meet you there!" Eliora waved and then turned to her boys and found Alzeid…asleep. "Kittypon! Come on, we're going out…" When that got no response, she sighed. "Fine, be that way." She tapped his ball and the sleeping form disappeared. "C'mon guys, I need to get clothes for Alzeid and Nuriko, I don't think I need anything else since..you know."

Clark nodded. "I think you should challenge the gym's leader. A three for three.." The others nodded, backing him up.

"Alright, then. Since you guys are all itching for a real match, I'll do it. First clothes, then gym. Let's go." With that, Eliora caught Nuriko's hand and headed out.

~*~

Shini: So, yeah…I was gonna apologize for something when I finished earlier today, but I can't remember what now. There was a ton of stuff that happened this chapter, but I will work on continuing to strengthen relationships in the next few chapters. I've already started on the next chapter, so go me!

Bishi-dex:

Katan – Angel Sanctuary (I think…)  
Inuyasha&Kagome – Inuyasha

Riku – Kingdom Hearts

Shini: Now I remember, I wanted to apologize for not going into deets on Eliora's half of the kidnapping. Right now, she's not ready to impart, sooo…we'll leave that all mysterious, shall we?

I also find it ironic that Eliora went into the RW territory searching for Ronins and came out with…two non-Ronins. The next chapter should be more relaxing than this one was!


	8. Chapter 8

Shini: I made a mistake in the last chapter. I said Nuriko was Sama…He's actually only San. I'm gonna leave it up for now, but if everyone could make the mental note, I'd appreciate it. Everyone knows the disclaimer already!

~*~

Chapter 8

~*~

Eliora studied the trainer across from her. Colleen and Nuriko were sitting in the sidelines to cheer her on. Colleen's trio were still in the training room and Alzeid was deeply asleep as of yet. With her at one end of the humble fighting arena were her original three boys. On the other side stood a young man with a shock of electric blue spikes for hair and bright blue eyes to match, his name was…Blue. He pulled a bish-ball off his belt and tossed it up into the air.

In a bright flash of light, Kara appeared. She studied her TV cousin for a long moment, Clark didn't react to the fact that it was Kara, not that he personally knew any Karas. After sizing one another up, the two disappeared. Colleen was playing referee, but she'd known better than to say anything before such a momentous fight. A Clark against Goku was one thing, Clark against another Clark was simply amazing and Clark against Kara was just too cool for words.

They reappeared barely a moment later and walked back to their respective trainers. Colleen waited a moment and then stood. "T-Tie!"

Eliora smiled brightly when Clark returned. "I have no idea what happened, but…good job?"

He chuckled softly in reply. "That works."

This time Eliora waited until her opponent had chosen his second fighter, Deedlit, before she turned to Legolas. The elf nodded and stepped forward. "I consent to fight for my trainer." Deedlit murmured the same phrase in reply.

Colleen stood again. "Second match. Begin." As soon as the words left her lips, she was sitting again.

Neither of them moved for the longest moment. Then Deedlit pulled out her sword and advanced. Immediately, Legolas retaliated but pulling his bow off his back and nocking an arrow. He shot once, twice, three times, but Deedlit managed to either twist out of the way or knock the arrows away with her sword. Legolas smiled, revealing to the other elf that he had been testing her capabilities. She was close enough that she could lunge, so she attempted to get through his guard; he tossed his bow aside and pulled his own sword free of its sheath in one smooth movement. They danced, swords flashing in the gymnasium lights.

They didn't insult one another; in fact their deadly dance was almost too beautiful for any of the observers to remember that it was actually a swordfight. Although one thing became obvious to Eliora, Deedlit was younger than Legolas. In fact, if she had to make a guess, she'd say Deedlit was still San, perhaps close to becoming a Sama, but nonetheless. Her skill level did not come anywhere near where Legolas was. That's when Eliora put two and two together, elves could be fantastic actors and Legolas was taking it easy on the San, letting her learn, but not letting her win.

That's why it was so very enjoyable to watch the two of them; they were sparring rather than truly fighting. In the end, Legolas figured he'd let the charade carry on long enough and it was time to take a win back to his trainer. He slipped under Deedlit's guard in the split second she left herself wide open and pressed his blade to her throat. The younger elf froze, her blue eyes huge. He tapped her throat once with the flat of his blade and her expression crumpled.

"I yield," she murmured, respect in her voice.

Legolas stepped back and sheathed his sword, then gathered his arrows. Deedlit ran back to her trainer, who patted her on the back good-naturedly. When Legolas returned to Eliora, she grinned up at him and tapped his sheath, letting him know she knew his game. The elf smiled in reply, feeling pretty relieved she wasn't mad at him or anything.

Yue stepped past Legolas almost immediately looking incredibly bored. Blue looked uncertain for a moment, but tossed a bish-ball into the air. Ryoko appeared looking absolutely murderous. Eliora gulped and actually took a step back. For a moment, it looked like Ryoko might turn on her own trainer, but then her gaze snapped on Yue.

"So I get to vent it all on _him_?" Ryoko smiled and cracked her knuckles. "Just say the word, Blue…"

Eliora glanced at Yue's back, wondering what he was thinking; in his place, she'd be terrified. Yet, his back remained straight and his pose remained calm, collected.

Blue appeared to be really unhappy. "Ryoko, I'm warning you, if you damage the gym one more time, I'm never letting you out in public again. And don't kill him, that's rude." His Bishoujo paid little attention to him.

"Shut up. I consent to fight for my trainer, not that he deserves it." Ryoko snapped, eyes narrowed on Yue's form.

"I consent to fight on behalf of Eliora," Yue replied, the picture of calm.

"Third match. Begin." Colleen wasn't even bothering with the formalities, at this point she looked as horrified as Eliora felt.

Ryoko shot into the air and then flung herself towards Yue before disappearing in midair. Yue also disappeared. They both reappeared near the ceiling, Ryoko threw an energy ball at him and Yue retaliated by sending one of the dozens of crystal shards that had appeared with him in the way of the oncoming attack. And so it went, Ryoko tried everything, but Yue always countered it. Which only made her angrier. At one point, she threw one of her far-too-powerful energy balls at the floor in her frustration. Yue couldn't counter it since she'd leapt back into attacking him, so Clark jumped out and took the brunt of the energy ball's blow, so that little of it caused the arena damage. Of course, he returned to Eliora's side with a shredded shirt, but at least everyone was still alive.

Ryoko had formed her energy sword when she froze. She stared hard at Yue for a long, long moment. Up where no one noticed, she allowed herself to nod almost imperceptibly. He pulled energy around one long-fingered hand and hit her. She dropped like a stone, although no one on the ground could figure out what had happened. Except, that is, Legolas and Clark who'd both zeroed in on the activity up above.

Colleen slowly stood when Ryoko didn't get up. "Ryoko is unable to continue. The win goes to Eliora…Which means Eliora wins the match." She sounded rather surprised. Blue returned Ryoko to her ball and then he and Eliora crossed the arena to meet in the middle.

Blue's face practically split in half, his grin was so wide. "Your first win, right?" When she nodded, he pat her on the back. "Congrats, you just defeated one of the best gym leaders in the Bishi-world. I'm the Eastern Bear, or so they call me."

"I don't mean to be rude, but were you being entirely serious?" Eliora turned her large, grays upon him, obviously not sure what to make of him.

"Actually, I was. Deedlit begged me to let her fight in my next match. Ryoko and Kara are two of my top three…But it looks like you have several toppers yourself. If you keep catching powerful studs like these guys, you'll make a name for yourself." Blue's grin widened, which should have been impossible, when the younger trainer turned red. "Here, let me see your dex."

Without even thinking about it, she dug out her dex and handed it to him. He took out his own dex and, holding them next to one another, he pressed several buttons on his. After a long moment, Eliora's beeped and Blue nodded, obviously pleased.

"There, that should be sufficient for your win," he returned her dex.

The teen took one look at her screen and turned sheet white. "Blue…This…I can't take this much."

"I don't take returns, besides I cut the link already. You deserve it for besting me. Don't look at me like that. Oh, look at the time. See ya, little lady!" With that, Blue jogged off.

Eliora wanted to follow him, but Colleen, who'd joined her, shook her head. "Don't. That area's actually restricted. Besides, he'll just tease you about being too humble. Blue is way too good-natured. Let me go get my three and then we can go to dinner on you, will that make you feel better Eliora? Wait, I'd rather eat back in the rooms, so we'll grab something to go if it's fine by you." The smaller trainer nodded, so the older girl took that affirmative and ran off to get her Bishie.

~*~

Shots rang through the morning stillness two days later. Eliora jerked and fell out of Nuriko's bed. Well, she would have fallen if Nuriko, who was sleeping in his bed as well, hadn't tightened his grip on her waist and pulled her away from the edge. When she turned to him, she found him wide awake. He released her and they both slipped out of bed. Sleeping bags littered the floor, showing that Clark and Legolas were already up and gone. Yue had been sharing Alzeid's room…which is where the gun…Oh wait, someone was still firing his gun.

Eliora yanked the door open and flung herself outside. She bolted to Alzeid's door and yanked it open as well…And nearly got shot for her efforts. Alzeid stared at her from his bed, his gun pointed at her chest. Vash had flattened himself against a wall and was waving a bullet-riddled white handkerchief.

Her gaze jumped between Vash and Alzeid. "I woke him up," the blond told her and then slipped past her.

Eliora stomped over to Alzeid and climbed onto his bed. "Gun."

"No."

She wrapped her arms around his torso and reached for the gun, he stretched his arm out, away from her. He was winning due to longer arms, but luckily Eliora had Clark on her side. He took the gun from Alzeid and the trainer smiled triumphantly. Once the core of the issue was more or less resolved, she scrambled out of the bed and proceeded to drag Alzeid after her. The albino was not happy about the situation, but he followed her anyway.

Outside, Colleen was making breakfast with help from Yue and Legolas. Eliora sat Alzeid down before the fire and took the seat next to him. Nobody asked Eliora why she and Nuriko had been sharing his bed; it had become a natural thing for Eliora to share whichever of her boys' beds were available when camp was set up. So far, she'd shared Nuriko's and Legolas's with their owners. The others had been startled at first, but had gotten over it.

"Kittypon, you can't have your gun back until you can prove you're responsible enough not to shoot people in the morning." Eliora glared at him; Vash had moved to the other side of the fire, clearly not believing Alzeid to be harmless.

"If people would let me sleep, there wouldn't be an issue," he replied coldly.

Eliora shoved a paper plate at him. "You really are as simple as you were in the manga…You sleep whenever bored and you never train." When he glared at her, she rolled her eyes. "What? I haven't seen you train since I caught you. Clark trained the first night he and I spent together and now he and Nuriko spar. Not to mention Legolas and Yue are always making sure their archery skills are in tip-top shape. I've even seen Vash practicing his marksmanship. So, you have no excuse. I mean, come on Alzeid, you know how to use a sword. You and Legolas could spar all you wanted."

When she was ignored, Eliora sighed and left him to join Nuriko. The Suzaku seishi smiled ruefully. "I don't think I knew anyone quite like Alzeid. You said there was more to him than meets the eye, right?

"Hey, don't go spouting all my secrets." Alzeid snapped sulkily.

His trainer flashed him a glare. "You'll never have a reason to fight, Kittypon, so relax." She turned to Nuriko as the cooks finished passing out breakfast and took their own seats. "He's got other abilities. In the manga, I've seen him pull up a barrier and…" She trailed off, remembering the scene in the manga and the reason why Alzeid had done all the cruel, horrible things he'd done; the teen turned back to her most difficult Bishounen. "Hey…Is Rayborn…?"

Alzeid spared her a glance. "Yeah," for once his voice was quiet, almost sad, but he changed that immediately. "Look, this isn't the world of those damn books. Look at purple-hair, isn't he supposed to be dead?"

Eliora blinked, she hadn't known he'd have any knowledge of the Fushigi Yugi storyline; Nuriko looked rather sick at the thought. "Thanks, _Kittypon_." And then the purple-haired Bishounen got up and walked away. He disappeared in the direction of the stream they'd found the night before.

Unsure as to what else she should do, the brunette through her bread at Alzeid's head and then ran off after Nuriko. Yue and Aoki began to get all their trainers' things together in preparation of leaving soon.

When she reached him, Eliora's first reaction was to wrap her arms around him, but Nuriko didn't look like he'd appreciate that at the moment. "I remember it…"

She froze, she hadn't realized he'd heard her coming. "Yes, but the fact that you're here proves that..although it happened that was on the-"

"I'm not _him_ Eliora, but I remember enough of him that it hurts. I've had long conversations with my own father about it, and with others whose sources died in their respective worlds. That's what we call them, our sources." He turned. "The very fact that I and others like me exist is testament to the fact that we are not the character you watched or read about. I look exactly like him, but I do not truly share the guilt he felt and I feel no obligation to dress as a woman, other than the remnants left by his memories….In reality, we are merely poor copies of the original people…"

Eliora hugged him now. "But I don't want _him_, I want _you_. I may have loved your source, but I truly fell for him when he began exploring the masculine half of himself. I know it's such a shallow thing to admit, but I had such a hard time understanding Ryuuen when he was playing the part of his dead sister. Yet when he started becoming his own person, that's when I saw the Nuriko I loved so much. You don't have to be him…" Nuriko hadn't moved, he was still as a rock and about as unbending as one too, she shook him lightly. "Nuriko, please. Do you think I would have stayed if I'd wanted the characters exactly as I saw them in books or on television? Clark is nowhere near being the Lana-obsessed man he was on Smallville and that makes me happy. Yue…well I haven't cracked him yet, but the only part of Legolas that really makes me think of his source is his appearance. When I first realized who you were, you made me think of the Nuriko that could have been if he hadn't carried all that guilt. And yet, you are your own person. I like it."

Finally, he gave in and wrapped his arms around her. "The fact that you and all the other trainers in the Bishi-world can be so very in love with weak copies of the originals amazes me. It still hurts to be reminded, though, that my source died. I mean, it's not necessarily rare and some of us really do carry the guilt of our sources. My cousin seriously bore our source's burden, he became Kourin in much the same fashion that _he_ did. Well, excluding the actual dead sister bit. What worries me, though, is that in my traveling I've seen a trainer destroyed by a Bishounen who was a copy of her favorite character ever, yet his personality was completely warped…"

"Some trainers may have a hard time realizing that they can't expect the character they knew in our world…I…Crap, this conversation is making me dizzy, it's so complicated. The issue may not be resolved, but perhaps Clark or Legolas might be a better companion for this conversation? I'm getting lost in whatever I have to say," Eliora admitted sheepishly.

Nuriko threw back his head and laughed. "Alright, fine by me. We'd better get back before someone kills Kittypon. Was he like that in his story?"

"Pretty spot on so far, I think he's doing much like your cousin, carrying the burden of his source. Although I haven't heard any mutterings about revenge. In any case, I'm gonna find someone else who's source…died…so you won't be so very alone." When Nuriko raised an eyebrow, Eliora lifted both hands. "No, no..I won't just throw and go…Some of my favorite characters, excluding Alzeid, were the ones that died in their stories. So I have no doubt that I'll catch someone who can relate to you soon."

They headed back to the chaos that was camp with a far better understanding of one another than the two of them had had when Nuriko has asked to join the group. What neither of them noticed was the pair of eyes that watched them from the shadows on the other side of the stream.

~*~

Shini: Okay, so that got really weird, really fast. Just..umm…Sorry? I was thinking about things and Nuriko won out on that…I'll keep the next chapter…more relaxed?

Bishi-dex:

Kara – Smallville

Deedlit – Record of Lodoss War

Ryoko – Tenchi Muyo (take your pick of the various versions)

Rayborn – Dazzle

Shini: I will be exploring the differences Eliora's bishi have from their sources, right now I'm trying to get a hang on juggling so many characters. It's tough, but worth it for the experience.


	9. Chapter 9

Shini: You all already know the disclaimer.

Special mention to Nyx. Yeah the eyes…that….I…I dunno. I needed an ending and that's what I chose. I swear, it's completely different, though!!!

By the way, my apologies for taking so long to post. I now have two betas, sooo it's all about communication?

~*~

Chapter 9

~*~

The group had been traveling for several hours before they paused, allowing Eliora and Colleen to puzzle out where exactly they were. After several long moments of studying the electronic map, Eliora's eyes narrowed. She proceeded to shake her dex, wondering if it was broken. In all likelihood the poor thing was as confused as she was. With that thought, she stopped the shaking the device.

Colleen giggled. "Have you figured it out?" When the younger girl shook her head, Colleen pulled out her own dex. "Eli, the map keeps changing because the world is growing again. We'd best be careful; this area seems to be in for several big changes in the near future. Call in your boys; you don't want them to get thrown thirty miles from you." She glanced at her own Bishi and, in response, Aoki and Vash disappeared in flashes of red light. Karen stepped closer to her trainer, although her wary gaze remained focused on the forest around them.

Eliora whistled as loud and piercingly as she could. A moment later Clark was at her side and Yue was swooping down to land. Nuriko had already disappeared. By the time Legolas arrived (he'd been at the edge of the three mile limit), only Alzeid stood next to the teen. Barely sparing the albino a glance, the elf returned to his ball. Alzeid, for his part, did not appear to be particularly appreciative that he'd been singled out. He was missing out on a potential nap. Although, at least he'd been given his gun back.

"Do you know which territory we're in?" Karen's voice broke the quiet and her trainer jumped into action, pulling up the map on her dex.

Colleen studied the map for several long, tense moments. "I do believe we're _in_ the territory of a series called The Banned and the Banished, although the map is spazzing due to the growth currently taking place…Well, not yet actually. Correction, the growth that should be taking place any minute now. The border of the Tortall series isn't too far from where we're standing actually." She appeared a little crestfallen that she didn't completely recognize either title.

Eliora, on the other hand, was ecstatic. "Banned and…Meric…Kral…Kast and Sy-wen! Not to mention all the others. Man, this is perfect. I wonder if-"

Colleen's breath caught in her throat as a huge, monstrous _thing_ came flying out of the surrounding forestry. When it saw them, it threw itself at the little group emitting a sound somewhere between a roar and a growl. Karen instinctively threw up a wall of flame between her trainer and it, which caused the monster to swerve away. Angry now, it came flying at Eliora and Alzeid instead. The small brunette flinched, eyes huge in her pale face; yet to her utter shock, her companion had stepped in front of her and let the thing hit him full force. Even as it hit him, Alzeid was throwing his power at it, blasting it forcefully with the full brunt of his anger. It screamed, or was it him? Eliora couldn't tell from her place on the ground behind her Bishonen.

Karen had prepared a ball of fire to throw at the monster, but she hesitated for fear of hitting the albino. Unfortunately, behind the Bishoujo, more of the creatures were appearing. Colleen screamed and Karen whirled. From what she could tell, the oncoming creatures seemed to be some sort of giant spider-bear hybrid. Honestly, Eliora couldn't describe them if she was asked to; they were horrors beyond her imagining. Her eyes could barely take in the fact that Karen had been pulled into the deadly embrace of one of the monsters and was desperately trying to disentangle herself. Alzeid…his body slammed into the ground before her and she stared at him, tears pooling in her eyes.

Alzeid, however, was not down for the count. His body had already begun to heal the wounds that should have been fatal. He was forcing himself to his hands and knees, reaching for his gun. "Run, Eliora."

Instead of obeying, the young trainer snatched up his gun before he could wrap his fingers around it. She stood, aimed it at the nearest beast and fired. Not pausing to see if it had done any good, she turned and shot at the thing that had taken hold of Karen, who was beginning to go limp due to blood-loss. Luckily for the girl, Eliora hit the beast. In its surprise, the creature released the Bishoujo, who fell to the ground and tried desperately to get to her feet and protect her trainer. There was a flash of light and Aoki appeared. He darted forward, gathered his wife into his arms and returned to his trainer.

The brunette's Bishonen had tried to come back out of their bish-balls, but, through strength of will alone, she'd kept them inside. She was afraid that if the world grew, they would get separated. Alzeid was on his feet again, this time, before the beast could attack again, he focused all his attention on killing the creature. Under his glare, the thing seemed to fall in on itself as he tore up its interior with his mind. The force of his rage was great enough that he was able to erect a barrier to cover the entire group. Aoki had managed to hold his own, but Colleen looked like she was going to fall apart as she cradled Karen's unconscious form, trying to stop the blood flow. Aoki laid a hand on her shoulder at the exact same instant that Eliora's hand fisted in Alzeid's jacket. The world exploded.

In an instant, Eliora was alone with the albino and there was no sign of Colleen's possible tragedy. "No! Colleen! COLLEEN!" Eliora stumbled away from Alzeid, screaming her friend's name. There was, of course, no answer.

Alzeid sank to the ground, bloodied, his clothing shredded. There was an explosion of red light and four other males appeared. Clark looked like he was going to yell at Eliora until he saw the broken-hearted expression on her face. Instead, he gathered her into his arms, pressing her against his chest. Legolas and Nuriko had both crouched in front of Alzeid to see if he needed any help. A low murmur of voices filled the serene quiet, although the red-eyed male dominated the conversation in order to explain exactly what had happened. As all of the Bishonen listened to the story, their newly wary eyes scanned the surrounding trees which suddenly appeared foreboding.

As if on cue, Eliora pulled away from Clark, a stubborn expression set on her features. "I was a fool not to let you guys out. If I had, Karen might not have been hurt." She straightened her narrow shoulders, her chin lifting as anger flashed in her gaze. "We're going back." Yet, even as she said it, terror mingled with the anger.

Clark shook his head. "We don't know that Colleen is still there. She's most likely somewhere else entirely now." When his trainer opened her mouth to argue, he cupped her cheek, effectively silencing her. "Call her first. I don't want to you to return to such a dangerous situation unless we know she's there."

The teen growled, but yanked out her dex and fumbled with it, growing more and more agitated when she pushed the wrong buttons. The five males turned back to the dark trees, pretending they weren't all watching her carefully from the corners of their eyes. Finally, she got the dex to do exactly what she wanted and she waited impatiently while it made the call. After several far too long moments, the screen lit up and Vash appeared.

"Eliora? You're okay?" He sounded strained and incredibly unhappy, although there was relief in his tone.

The girl in question nodded curtly. "I'm fine. Where are you guys? Is Karen okay? What about Colleen and Aoki?" Alzeid's red gaze settled squarely on Eliora, who ignored him.

Vash didn't smile; there was no laughter in his voice when he spoke, only bleak worry. "We were lucky. The growth set us right outside a trainer city. Colleen sent Aoki rushing to the local hospital with Karen. Colleen…I don't know. Whatever happened back there has her terrified; Aoki and I are afraid she might burst into hysterics at any second, which is why I answered your call. We won't know anything on Karen until later this evening…" He paused, turning away when Aoki appeared in the background; there was a hurried, whispered conversation and then Vash turned back to the dex. "I've got to go. We'll call later, I promise. Take care of yourself, Eliora." The screen went blank.

Eliora stared at it for a long moment before hanging up as well. She looked like she might fall apart, but she gathered herself together and looked up, meeting Alzeid's gaze. "My…apologies, Alzeid. I'd forgotten about the horrors that exist in that…That…" She shook her head and slowly sank to the ground; wrapping her arms around her knees, she succumbed to tears.

~*~

Colleen called later that night, reporting that Karen was on the mend and that she would be staying in the town, Weirgate, until she was fully healed. Colleen still struggled with the terror she felt when thinking of the territory they'd escaped, certain that she would never return to it. Luckily for her peace of mind, Weirgate had a teleportation device which the trainer would be making use of. She'd encouraged Eliora to stay on the path she was, confessing that she'd met a trainer named Elystan who was also staying in Weirgate. They'd pooled their money together and had agreed to travel together. With a promise to meet up again when possible, the two had hung up.

That night, Eliora had shared Clark's bed and the others had retreated to their respective bish-balls. After consulting the map the next morning and concluding that they were somewhere in the depths of the Wolf's Rain territory, the group had headed north toward the Tortall territory. Things had returned to normal, more or less, although the group didn't separate like they usually did. Eliora was still a little too shaky for any of the five guys to really move too far away from her.

"Next time we might venture into such a territory as that, we'll stop at the nearest city and see if we can't learn as much as we can about how to avoid the monsters. I should probably report what happened to us, seeing as monster attacks could be a serious issue. We were on the path after all," Eliora mused aloud, brow furrowed in thought.

A thought struck Clark. "What about your belt?"

"My belt?"

"You picked up a monster chip at the last town we were in, remember?" Clark's eyes darkened. "However, I was with you when you picked that up, and they specifically said that the monsters don't attack you, that it's a matter of choice."

Eliora pulled the chip out of its designated slot on her belt, examining it. "It's broken. I wonder if it malfunctioned and then shorted out…" Which would certainly explain the random attacks by those monsters. Even with all the dangers that already existed in the Bishi-world, monster attacks like that one probably shouldn't be possible. Either way, it would be best to report the attack next time they reached a city. Whenever that would be.

After tucking the chip into her pocket, the group headed off, wandering aimlessly through the territory. They were searching for a path of some sort, but as the hours passed it become more and more apparent that they were hopelessly lost. Even the map Eliora had did them very little good as it stilled seemed somewhat confused. So, she gave up checking on it every ten minutes since the status never seemed to change.

They finally stopped several hours later for lunch. During the meal it began to rain. "Of course…" Eliora glared up at the sky, but grudgingly packed up her stuff and scrambled into the set-up PD room.

Once everyone was inside, they hurried to make a simple lunch that didn't need to be cooked. Settling down to eat, it was decided that they should watch a movie to wait out the rain. Nuriko and Legolas still seemed to find the television somewhat fascinating, although neither of them were as hyped about it as others might have been. By the time everyone was settled comfortably, Eliora was on the bed with Clark and Nuriko. The others had settled on the floor in front of them, leaning against the bed. Eliora had chosen The Three Musketeers since she didn't have any characters from that movie and because she loved it.

The boys, being easily convinced to watch, found their trainer had chosen well. They spent the rest of the afternoon watching movies and eating popcorn, which nearly spoiled their appetites for dinner. In the middle of their second movie, V for Vendetta, Eliora's dex began vibrating in her pocket. The poor trainer flung herself at Clark, surprised by the vibration. He, as calmly as possible, reached into one of her pockets and pulled the little technological device out. Turning red, she took it from him and answered the incoming call.

"Eliora!!" The voice was dimly familiar, but the hair was something she didn't think she'd forget anytime soon.

"Matthew! How are you? Who've you caught? _Where_ are you?" She flung questions at him like they were bullets.

The redheaded teen laughed. "Whoa, slow down. I'm fine. I caught Ginny Weasley, Orihime Inoue, Haruhi Suzumiya and Tsunami. I'm…Well, Urd and Haruhi kind of broke my dex so I can only make calls right now, so I don't really know…Last I checked we were in the Sailor Moon territory, but we could be anywhere by now. Urd's got a habit of teleporting us to random destinations." He lowered his voice to a whisper, glancing over his should conspiratorially. "I think she might be insane."

"I heard that, Matthew Whitmore!" Shouted Urd's voice nearby. "Get things straight. I'm not the teleporting member of the group, Tsunami is. So, if anyone's insane, it's her…" A hand landed on Matthew's shoulder and Urd entered the screen. "Hey there, Eliora! So, what's up with you?"

Eliora grinned. "Not much, really. We're in Clark's room watching movies because it's raining. We're also lost in the depths of the Wolf's Rain territory. But wow, Matthew. You really know how to catch them. Those are some powerful girls you've got on your hands."

Urd pinched his cheek and Matthew turned an embarrassed red. "Well, what about you? Anybody new?"

"Definitely," she turned the dex and scanned the room with it for Matthew's benefit. "Nuriko, Legolas, Alzeid, and Yue." Nuriko and Legolas waved or nodded in acknowledgment, Yue glanced Eliora's way and Alzied ignored both his trainer and the person she was talking to. "Alzeid still has to learn some manners and Yue's not a very social person, so don't mind them."

Urd chuckled. "Eliora's got a harem!" Standing up, she disappeared again, exclaiming loudly about how her trainer had a girlfriend and she had a harem. Haruhi's voice mingled with Urd's and then there was a startled squeak that sounded a lot like Orihime.

"Crap," Matthew glanced over his shoulder. "Haruhi's molesting Orihime again. It's like she's replaced Mikuru with poor Orihime. I've gotta go do damage control, I'll talk to you later." The screen went blank and Eliora was left staring at it blankly.

After several quiet seconds, the trainer burst into peals of laughter. "Poor Matthew…" She grinned and sat up against the headboard. "I think it's time we called Megan; remember her, Clark? I wonder if she's finally caught a Smallville Clark."

"If she hasn't, I don't want to talk to her. But, call Liz too if we're going to be walking down memory lane. You promised you'd call her, but you never did." Clark slipped off the bed and maneuvered around the trio on the floor in order to start dinner.

"Yes, mother." Laughter filled the room when Clark bristled and then everyone, except Alzeid scattered, pretending they had something they needed to be doing. Not that there was anywhere they could go.

A pair of eyes had followed Eliora, even when the world had grown, they had found her again. But it was hard work and tiring. The form attached to the eyes glanced at the sky and then sighed. Time to sleep for a while and then track her down again tomorrow. After a moment's rustling, there was silence and all that could be heard was the rain falling from the sky.

~*~

Bishi-dex:

Urd – Ah/Oh! My Goddess

Haruhi – Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Orihimi – Bleach

Mikuru – Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Tsunami – Take your pick of Tenchi Muyo stories

Ginny Weasley – Harry Potter

Monsters – Something I made up to fit _The Banned and the Banished_ territory since I couldn't remember, for the life of me, what one of the actual monsters from that series was like.


	10. Chapter 10

Shini: I know, I know, this is a long time in coming. Buuut, a lot of stuff happened. I switched from my dad's house to my bio-mom's for the summer…Annd then I spent a week adjusting and couldn't find my files. Then I got a job and spent two weeks doing a stressful job I absolutely despised. Just today I got let go (two weeks and a day after I got hired). I also wanted to give my pooor beta a chance to go over this (her computer died). But I've really missed this story. Please enjoyyyy!

~*~

Chapter 10

~*~

The next day, Eliora awoke entangled in limbs and long hair. The soft sound of breathing was the only sound in the room. She laid there, quietly listening to her favorite people sleep, until the itch to sit up got to be too much to ignore. Maneuvering carefully, she shifted Clark's arm off of her with one hand and managed to pull herself into a much more comfortable position. Examining the males strewn on the floor-they'd taken Clark's bed and put it into Legolas's room for the night-she was surprised to find they were all as close as they could each get to her. In fact, Alzeid had a hold of her hand and she doubted she'd be able to get him to let go until he woke up. Clark had pulled her against him during the night. Both Nuriko and Legolas each had the bottom of one of the legs of her pajama pants in one fist. Yue had been playing with her hair when she'd fallen asleep. The observation alone had her stifling a fit of giggles.

She was able to wait about twenty minutes before she got bored. Not that watching each male sleep wasn't fascinating. But…she wanted to _do_ something, not sit around and…do nothing. Eliora was not in the habit of rudely awakening people, so she began to fidget instead. After another five minutes, she had the prickling sensation of being watched. She scanned the room and found a pair of blue eyes focused on her. Clark. Of course. Who else would be the first to wake up, and to the simple sound of giggling? She waved at him and got a smile in reply.

It seemed only minutes before everyone was up and moving…except Alzeid. Nuriko and Clark had teamed up to try and save Eliora's hand from the death grip the albino had on it. They had failed. So, Eliora had been sacrificed to the red-eyed god of sleep and everyone else had started making breakfast. Nuriko, upon his trainer's request, had checked outside and reported that it was _still_ raining, although perhaps not as bad as the day before.

Clark was just finished breakfast when Eliora finally devised and enacted a plan that she was sure would wake Alzeid up. She'd whispered something in his ear, probably threatening him with lack of sweets and he'd immediately stirred. He had released her hand as though he hadn't been holding it captive the entire night and she scrambled to her feet and as far away from him as she could in the room. In fact, for the rest of the morning, she hovered by Clark's side, as though afraid the albino would attach himself to her hand again if she got too close.

After everyone had had their cup of coffee-or tea, as the case might be-the group separated. Legolas and Yue departed to practice their archery, Alzeid had disappeared to do who knew what, and Eliora had settled with an umbrella to watch Nuriko and Clark spar. They were having quite a bit of fun, throwing one another into the mud and claiming king of 'strength' when a smaller body flung itself between the two of them. Both males brought their bodies to a complete stop far too soon and ended up back in the mud. Eliora grinned at them, her hands on her hips.

"Now who's the king of strength?"

This started a free-for-all war, wherein the two males half-competed with one another to see who could take Eliora out first. Due to the distracting competition, Eliora ended up remaining the king of strength.

~*~

"How good is your aim?" Legolas was studying the wet trees, looking for a promising target. Both of the Bishounen were dutifully ignoring the rain, having decided to see it as a test of how well they could shoot in such conditions.

Yue glanced at the elf. "Better than yours, I'd guess." He smirked when his companion glanced at him, a challenge in his eyes.

"What're we betting?" The blond was already pulling an arrow out of his quiver, having located a suitable target.

"How about cleaning duties for the next month? And dignity, of course." The suggestion was a pretty good one since Eliora had those who were not cooking take turns cleaning up after meals. Clark did most of the cooking unless their trainer could get to the refrigerator before him. Quite honestly, that was a rare occurrence, because Clark had decided it was a competition to reach the fridge and always cheated by using his super speed.

Legolas nodded. "Fair enough. See that tree?" He pointed to an old tree that had split in half some years ago; it was about a quarter mile from where they were. Yue nodded. "Whoever can reach the highest part of that tree with their arrow wins."

Yue nodded and the duo nocked their arrows.

~*~

Eliora had abandoned Clark and Nuriko in favor of washing off in a nearby stream. When she returned to the campsite dressed in clean clothes, she found Alzeid sitting before a fire. Taking this in stride, she knelt down next to him, dropping her muddied clothes on the ground. The albino barely glanced at her; his thoughts were far away from the here and now. She could see something in his gaze, something she recognized from the manga. Before she could place a name to it, those red eyes focused and his gaze met hers. Immediately, the brunette turned scarlet and looked away.

"So…you made a fire?" She poked one of the branches he'd used with a stick she'd picked up.

"Yes." He was still watching her, his gaze intensifying. It was though he wanted to crack her head open and examine her thoughts. His gaze made Eliora desperately wish he would turn his attention on something else.

Self-preservation kicked in (her face was burning scarlet) and she focused on the fire. "Won't you go cross-eyed staring at people like that?"

Alzeid snorted in disgust and turned away as well, he glanced at her every few seconds. It was like she was a puzzle and he was trying to figure her out, she hated the feeling. Finally, he stirred the logs and she relaxed. "You really know how to close everyone out don't you?"

"What?" Eliora turned back to him, surprise clear in her voice.

The albino shrugged and poked the logs again, forcing them into a proper fire-sustaining formation. "You never talk about home; you never seem to miss home. It's like you just started existing when you came here. You know all about us, so why don't you ever talk about yourself? It can't be much worse than any of our stories….Stop staring at me, or do _you_ want to go cross-eyed?"

Regaining her sense of intelligence, Eliora snapped her jaw shut and threw her stick at him. Alzeid caught it and snapped it in half then threw it into the fire with a scowl. His trainer rolled his eyes and remained silent. Which only succeeded in further irritating him. Being who he was, he decided that the best course of action was to get up and stomp away. A soft exhalation stopped him in his tracks and then a small hand placed itself within his.

"Look, I didn't think it mattered much. So, I never really brought it up. Homesickness is useless here, right? I mean, if I really wanted to go home, all I'd have to do is release all of you. I can't honestly understand how some trainers can long to go home and yet still feel tied here." She caught his disbelief, but ignored it. "It's not that I don't miss home, but I don't see any point in mulling over it. My home certainly does not miss me. In fact, I no longer exist there. So, I figured I should just enjoy the life I have right now, otherwise I'd spend all of my time being sad for what I have lost."

The red-eyed male slowly sank back down to sit again. "I see. What was your family like, Eliora?" Honest curiosity bled into his voice and the intensity had returned to his gaze.

Eliora thought about his question for a long moment. "Well….Daddy was overprotective, but one of the best dads in the whole world. My mother was a business woman who always set enough time aside to care for her kids, so she was a great example of a working mom. I'm the eldest of four and the only girl…I guess, a typical family? Sort of. Maybe?"

Alzeid continued to stare at her. "A typical family? What does that even mean?"

"Ah…I don't really…know? I guess just…we were kind of just like any other family. There was nothing particularly exciting about us. Except for the fact that now I don't exist and Daddy no longer has a princess…merely a bunch of boys." Her brow furrowed at this thought. "Well, at least I don't have to worry about Superman and Jinx. Since they won't remember me, they'll belong to one of my brothers instead." Alzeid was staring at her strangely, so she explained. "Superman's my dog…Or was. He's a golden retriever, and incredibly beautiful. Jinx is my maine coon…and yes, he's a boy too. They were my biggest regrets since they were my precious babies. Technically, they were supposed to be family pets, but they're both kind of mine and mine alone. Or were."

Alzeid nodded, pondering about this new knowledge. "You have…quite a family…" He sounded completely awkward in his poor attempt to be reassuring.

Eliora laughed. "Yes, I did. But…the one person I think I might miss the most is my cousin. Lia. She'd love this place." She stared at the surrounding forestry wistfully.

~*~

"I don't see any other option. Clark, can you super speed us in one direction?" Eliora stared up at the kryptonian.

Clark frowned. "Well, I wouldn't suggest it. My reflexes are good enough, I suppose. But what if I run us straight into the heart of a city? We wouldn't be allowed to leave." Yet, when his trainer's eyes turned pleading, he couldn't resist and ended up giving in. "Alright, alright…Everyone into their bish-balls."

The others disappeared, leaving Eliora, Clark and the backpack. Camp had already been disassembled, because the brunette had decided that they were going to leave, rain or no rain. Now, the kryptonian pulled the backpack out of Eliora's arms and pulled the straps over his shoulders. Picking his trainer up, Clark turned in the direction that had been chosen and took off. He knew he'd gone too far when he tripped. Having not been paying attention, the young man had caught a foot on a prone form. Eliora disappeared from the safe grip of his arms and he went flying. Of course, it was probably a good thing his trainer wasn't in his arms for Clark just happened to slam into a tree. It didn't bother him much, but between him and the tree, the girl would have been crushed. Dusting himself off, the kryptonian stood and searched for his trainer.

He found her in the arms of another man. A man that smiled pleasantly at him. A man that Eliora obviously recognized, if the shocked and incredibly happy expression on her face was anything to go by. Before the stranger set her down, Eliora popped a bish-ball off of her belt and pressed it into his side. She landed on her feet lightly, clenching the trembling ball. After a moment, the ball clicked and her dex vibrated in her pocket. Releasing the dark-haired male again, the brunette pulled out her dex and pushed a button. Clark stepped closer to peer over her shoulder.

_Johnny Rayflo. Stage – Sama. A very old vampire from the series Vassalord. He is mysterious and does not appear to like to reveal a lot about himself unless it is required. His favorite person is 'Cherry' whom he is rarely without. He gets along very well with children and is quite knowledgeable about the vampire community. He appears to flirt with everyone, but he hates having females in his bed._

_Nickname? Y/N_

Eliora grinned. "Yes. Rayflo." The vampire's lips curved into a more defined smile, almost amused this time. As he finally got a good look at the girl, his expression changed into one of complete joy.

"You are adorable!" Without warning, Rayflo tugged the small girl against his chest, arms wrapping tight around her. Clark automatically reached out to stop him, but the slightest flicker of the man's eyes his way stopped him. That glance had spoke volumes. Those eyes jumped to the surrounding forestry and Clark's eyes narrowed in response. It wasn't until Eliora squirmed in the vampire's grip that the unspoken conversation ended.

"That…That's the first time a bishi has every glomped me. I thought it was supposed to be the other way around?" The girl glanced curiously between the two tall figures.

The vampire's arms spread welcomingly. "You are most welcome to glomp me, although the price is allowing me to dress you properly." He fingered one of her curls gingerly, eying her practical hiking outfit critically.

All three froze when the bushes rustled. A second later and a blond man stepped out. Both Eliora and Rayflo's faces brightened in recognition. "Cherry!" The double-voiced call startled the blond and he froze, seeming to ponder the idea of hiding in the bushes again for a split second.

Before the thus-dubbed 'Cherry' could move, Rayflo was on him, chattering at him about his new trainer and how he'd been caught unawares. Eliora was pondering the idea of catching the fetching blond, seeing as he was obviously the Cherry that belonged to her Rayflo when the bushes parted again to reveal another, smaller figure. Eliora froze, her jaw dropped in utter shock and her hand, which had been holding a bish-ball, went limp. Clark, quick as he was, caught the ball before it fell far.

"Ah, Eli? What's wrong?" Concern began to sweep through him.

"LIA!" For the first time that day, Eliora glomped someone.

~*~

Bishi-dex:

Rayflo & 'Cherry' – Vassalord

I'll get to work on the next chapter after my friend puts up her first chapter.


	11. Quick Note

Heya all, tis me, just giving a quick note.

I mistakenly sent both Nyx and LDD messages saying I was going to completely revamp this story. I reread chapter 10 and changed my mind. I am going to go through the first ten chapters and rewrite a few of them. I want to change some of the continuity issues that have been bothering me. But, seeing the amazing dynamics between Eliora and the current posse she has, I decided I shouldn't change things.

What I had written up for the 'revamped' story is something I think I'm gonna add in in a later chapter 'cause it's such a neat idea. Eliora's not gonna like it and that's all I'm gonna say.

I'm sorry for being gone for so long, but I am back. Bear with me as I work through the chapters to fix them up. Hey, does anyone have any beta recommendations? Mine kinda died. Not really, of course. But, in the figurative sense, they're gone. And I really need help. The reason I stopped to begin with is because I felt overwhelmed by the editorial changes and plot changes I need to make so the story ran smoother. On top of that, I'm trying to start Liz's story and continue Eliora's story.

Any suggestions would be loved! By the way, I'll probably get rid of this AN once I write up Chapter 11. Or I'll just add it to the beginning. Dunno yet! LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

~Shini


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